Department for Transport

Department for Transport: Pay

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many male direct entrants at Grade 7 level in Resources and Strategy in his Department, started on a higher salary level than the Grade 7 minimum in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) 2019.

Jesse Norman: There were 28 direct entrants at Grade 7 in Resource and Strategy Group between 2015 and 31st January 2019. Of these, 21 were appointed with a salary above the minimum. It is not possible to disaggregate this further between male and female entrants or the years in which they joined the Department, as it might be possible to identify individuals.

Department for Transport: Pay

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many direct entrants identified as (a) White, (b) BAME or (c) Black at Grade 7 level in his Department started on a higher salary level than the Grade 7 minimum in (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017, (iv) 2018 and (v) 2019.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many direct entrants identified as (a) White, (b) BAME or (c) Black in his Department, started on a higher salary level than the relevant grade minimum in (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017, (iv) 2018 and (v) 2019.

Jesse Norman: The tables in the attached document provide the number of direct entrants identified as (a) White, (b) BAME (Including Black) and those whose ethnicity remains Undisclosed. Data includes appointments in DfT(c), DVLA, DVSA, MCA and VCA. DVSA data from before September 2017 is only available at disproportionate cost. Due to the small numbers of staff that have specifically identified themselves as “Black”, it is not possible to provide this information as it would be possible to identify individuals. However, this data is contained within the figures for those that are identified as BAME. Where the value would be 5 or less, this is shown accordingly to protect anonymity.  



No of Direct Entrants - Departmental - Ethnicity
(Word Document, 14.72 KB)

Boats

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department last met National Historic Ships UK to discuss the potential effect on older UK passenger boats of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals for those vessels.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department held a dedicated meeting with representatives of National Historic Ships UK on 14 February 2019 to discuss proposals resulting from the review into standards for older UK passenger ships and in particular how these may affect those commercial passenger vessels on the National Historic Ships Register and the National Historic fleet.National Historic Ships UK were also present at the stakeholder workshop on 26th March 2019 to discuss the review.

Boats

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has made to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on proposals to prevent boat owners going out of business as a result of that Agency's review of standards for older UK passenger boats.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Neither the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) nor the Department can offer any financial assistance to operators whose vessels may be affected by these increased safety measures. It is not normal practice for the Government to compensate individuals or companies for changes brought about by enhancements in safety legislation. To do so would set a challenging precedent. I have asked that the MCA look to achieve a fair balance between proportionality for operators and public safety. However, public safety will always take precedence over all other considerations.

River Thames: Boats

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he last met with (a) Transport for London and (b) the Port of London Authority to discuss the effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals on older UK passenger boats on the tidal River Thames.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Ministers have regular meetings with the Port of London Authority (PLA) and Transport for London to discuss a range of matters. Both PLA and Transport for London were advised of the consultation.

Boats

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the financial implications to (a) the Port of London Authority, and (b) Transport for London of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's review into standards on older passenger boats, and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Both (a) the Port of London Authority (PLA) and (b) Transport for London (TfL) were notified of publication of the first public consultation package on the proposals to implement the outcome of the review into standards for older passenger ships, which included a draft Impact Assessment (IA). Consultees were invited to comment on the validity of the analysis in the IA and encouraged to provide information that would help to strengthen this. The IA is now being updated to reflect the range of further information provided through consultee feedback. Policy officials from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency met with the PLA on 29 March 2019, and are in ongoing contact with them, and are available to meet with TfL as part of the ongoing consultation process if they have evidence to contribute that will improve the robustness of the IA.I have directed officials at the MCA to ensure that any impact on TfL and PLA is considered as part of the ongoing work and reflected in the IA narrative.

Low Emission Zones: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, following the introduction of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in London, whether his Department has plans to offer any financial incentives to low income families to ensure they are able to upgrade older, more polluting vehicles to hybrid or electric vehicles.

Jesse Norman: The ULEZ is the responsibility of Transport for London. The Government has no plans to introduce a vehicle scrappage scheme to help drivers of conventionally powered vehicle to change to ultra low emission vehicles compliant with Transport for London’s ultra low emission zone regulations. Motorists wishing to change to zero emission vehicles are able to take advantage of the Plug – in Car Grant as well as grants towards the installation of chargepoints, at homes, at workplaces and in residential areas.

Public Transport: Disability

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made in implementing the audio-visual requirements for public transport, as set out in the Bus Services Act 2017, across Lancashire.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: In Summer 2018 the Government consulted publicly on plans to use powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 to make Regulations requiring the provision of audible and visible information onboard local bus services across Great Britain. We continue to analyse responses to the consultation and expect to announce our next steps regarding the making of Regulations and publication of guidance later in the year.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the extent to which operational performance delays on the East Coast Main Line are caused by ageing infrastructure; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: Network Rail as the infrastructure manager is best placed to make an assessment of the extent to which operational performance delays on the East Coast Main Line are caused by ageing infrastructure.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Azuma rolling stock can run at full line speed on the East Coast Main Line; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport is working with the rail industry to deliver the full benefits of the Azuma fleet; including increased capacity, improved reliability and more frequent services. We are investing in an Enhancements Programme to upgrade the route and Network Rail is planning to introduce an upgraded timetable that allows London North Eastern Railway to run more services by the end of 2021. Azumas are able to operate at full line speed across the East Coast Main Line, however temporary restrictions may limit performance in limited geographic areas while the enhancement programme is underway.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the new Azuma rolling stock runs under electric traction rather than diesel on sections of the East Coast Main Line that are currently electrified using overhead wires.

Andrew Jones: The Department of Transport is working together with Network Rail and the operator, to ensure the Azuma fleet will run under electric traction where the infrastructure enables it.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will carry out an economic impact assessment of the effect of delays on the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle.

Andrew Jones: Transport for the North is developing a Strategic Programme Outline Case for the East Coast to Scotland Strategic Development Corridor. This report will assess the economic impact of improving transport links between York and Newcastle and the Department looks forward to its publication later this year.

*No heading*

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 241018, what (a) criteria and (b) timeframes in the Northern franchise agreement his Department is using to assess Arriva Rail North’s progress in ensuring that all Pacer trains will be retired by the end of 2019.

Andrew Jones: The Department continues to monitor the delivery of new trains across the network. Those new trains delivered to the Northern franchise, together with fully-refurbished cascaded vehicles, will allow the withdrawal of Pacer units.

Crossrail: Staff

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the capacity to reallocate MTR Crossrail (a) drivers and (b) other employees who are not yet operational to other parts of the rail network where staff shortages exist.

Andrew Jones: The management of the MTR Crossrail contract is the responsibility of Transport for London.

Network Rail: Research

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how Network Rail’s £100 million research and development budget for Control Period 5 was spent in each year between 2014 and 2018; and if he will publish that spending alongside the promised delivery outcomes in each of those years.

Andrew Jones: In CP5 Network Rail had a strategic research & development fund of £100m. This was split between the Network Rail Research & Development programme (£50m) and the Rail Safety and Standards Board Innovation Programme (£50m). Network Rail’s funding for Research & Development was reduced to £32m as part of the Hendy funding review Spend broken down by each year of CP5:Year 1: £3.2mYear 2: £5.3mYear 3: £5.5mYear 4: £7.1mYear 5: £10.5m

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of (a) HS2 Ltd's Phase One contractors and (b) HS2 Ltd's Phase One sub-contractors have recognised a trade union for collective bargaining purposes in connection with those contracts.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: HS2 Ltd formally recognises the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) for collective bargaining purposes for its directly employed staff. HS2 Ltd and the TUC have an 'Initial Framework Agreement (IFA) 2016'. The IFA is not designed to cut across or replace any existing or subsequently agreed collective bargaining arrangements, for example those that HS2 Ltd may agree with its own staff. The contractors that HS2 Ltd engages with in the construction and operation of the railway will have their own relationships with their staff and the trade unions that represent them. IFA is separate from those arrangements. It is not a stage or escalation point in the Machinery of Negotiation for HS2 Ltd or its contractors.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the HS2 Ltd and Trades Union Congress Initial Framework Agreement, published on 6 April 2016, what enforceable commitment to support direct employment has been developed by HS2 Ltd.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Where there is a substantial amount of work that falls outside the 'skill set' of Tier 1 contractors, it would not be feasible for them to be the employer. Notwithstanding, HS2 Ltd requires that the contractor directly employs its employees and first line supervisors and ensures as far as reasonably practicable that the subcontractors and the suppliers in its supply chain do the same. Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week meet, at a minimum, the national living wage and (where appropriate) the London living wage or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher. Industry benchmark standards for terms and conditions of employment include those contained within existing national agreements that cover the civil and engineering construction sector e.g. CIJC.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many workers engaged on Phase One of High Speed Two are employed (a) on a zero-hours contract, (b) on an agency contract, and (c) through (i) an umbrella and (ii) personal service company.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As of 16 April 2019(a) The number of workers employed on zero-hours contracts on Phase One is 0. (b) The number of workers employed on Phase One on an agency contract are 238. (c.i) The number of workers employed on Phase One through an umbrella company are 35. (c.ii) personal service company are 122.

Rolling Stock: Procurement

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the delivery time fpr new trains of problems with the connection on the inter-coupler between carriages on the new CAF rolling stock for (a) the West Midlands, (b) Transpennine and (c) Northern.

Andrew Jones: The Department continues to monitor the delivery of new rolling stock across the rail network. It is a matter for operators to oversee delivery so that passengers get the reliable and comfortable services that they have been promised. It is essential that new rolling stock meets the relevant technical and safety requirements before entry into service.

East Midlands Trains

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what pension liability has been accepted by Abellio on East Midlands trains in addition to the parent company bond.

Andrew Jones: At the moment, train operating companies are liable for the full pensions risk during their franchise term. In the new East Midlands franchise, the operator is exposed to no additional risks or demands when compared to current franchisees. Indeed, the new franchise includes a risk sharing mechanism with the government, which reduces the risk that the operator will be exposed to. In this, the operator retains the risks that it is able to manage. The operator would be exposed to some upside/downside risk, but this risk would be shared with the Department.

Abellio Group

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the competitiveness of rail services in the Midlands of Abellio operating services in the West Midlands and throughout the East Midlands.

Andrew Jones: Issues relating to market competition arising from any franchise award are a matter for the winning bidder and the Competition and Markets Authority.

Abellio Group

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what contingency planning his Department has undertaken in the event of change in ownership of Abellio Transport Holdings Limited.

Andrew Jones: The Franchise Agreement contains change of control provisions. Any potential change in ownership of a transport group holding a franchise would be assessed at the time.

Department for Transport: Public Consultation

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what definition of consultation his Department uses.

Jesse Norman: The Department for Transport adheres to the published cross-Government consultation principles; these principles can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance. These principles give clear guidance to Government departments when conducting consultations. The Department seeks to be as flexible as possible in its methods of consulting and engagement to ensure that those who are likely to be affected are reached and their views sought. These can range from a formal public consultation in a major policy area, to surveys, industry forums, public meetings and stakeholder events.

Department for Transport: Public Consultation

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average response rate is to a public consultation undertaken by his Department.

Jesse Norman: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. The Department seeks to be as flexible as possible in its methods of consulting and engagement and adheres to the set of Government consultation principles published on GOV.UK. This is to ensure that those who are likely to be affected are reached and their views sought. The Department regularly consults on a wide range of issues. Whilst some are of interest to a wide variety of stakeholders and industry groups, other consultations are more targeted, focusing on specific issues of interest to a small number of stakeholder groups that would naturally elicit differing levels of response.

Members: Correspondence

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 4 March 2019 from the hon. Member for Richmond Park on Hammersmith Bridge.

Jesse Norman: A response to the Hon Member’s letter about Hammersmith Bridge was sent to his office on 10 April.

Shipping: Females

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help  encourage more women to enter the maritime industry.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: I am determined to see more women entering the maritime industry and taking advantage of the many and wide-ranging career opportunities that the maritime sector has to offer, at sea and on shore.That is why the Department for Transport has been working very closely with the Task Force set up by Maritime UK in 2018 to improve gender diversity. The first output of that task force has been the women in maritime pledge that commits maritime companies to building an employment culture that actively supports and celebrates gender diversity, at all levels in their organisation. Over 100 companies have signed up the pledge already. And to move participating organisations from that show of intent to solid action for change, a charter follows on that commits signatory companies to take specific actions to improve gender diversity in exchange of help in the form of toolkits.In addition to this, the Department for Transport is funding 10 roadshows for girls only across the country. The roadshows will be delivered by 1851 Trust later in the year. They will enable up to 1,400 young women of ages between 10 and 14 years old to learn about STEM studies and maritime careers.

Shipping: Qualifications

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what measures his Department has promoted to ensure that maritime qualifications will continue to be recognised by the international industry after the UK leaves the EU.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) sets the international requirements for the minimum standards of training, that the seafarers performing certain roles must meet. The UK is a party to that Convention and will continue to be so after we leave the EU. There is therefore no reason why UK qualifications should not continue to be recognised.

Shipping: Qualifications

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will undertake a European Maritime Safety Agency audit to ensure that maritime qualifications obtained in the UK will continue to be recognised by the international industry after the UK leaves the EU.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The UK already provides information to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). EMSA is aware of the high quality of UK training and certification. UK maritime qualifications will continue to be recognised internationally even after the UK leaves the EU. EU law requires that the EU assesses the training and certification of non-EU countries before recognising their certificates. This assessment is carried out by EMSA. Since the UK is already operating to international standards and will continue to do so after exit, we expect EMSA’s assessment of the UK’s training and certification systems to be straightforward. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency will be ready to provide any additional information that EMSA may ask for.

European Maritime Safety Agency

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who will undertake the role currently delivered by the European Maritime Safety Agency when the UK leaves the EU.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) discharges a number of obligations set out in the International Maritime Organization Conventions on behalf of the EU Members. These obligations affect Maritime Security and Surveillance, Ship Safety and Protection of the Marine Environment. The Department for Transport and its agencies will take on functions carried out by EMSA in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal. However, this is not our preferred option. The UK values co-operation with EMSA and the political declaration agreed between the UK and EU foresees that co-operation continuing in the future.

East Midlands Rail Franchise: Rolling Stock

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when new trains will be provided for the Sheffield to London Service; by what date all such new trains will be running and how those trains will be powered.

Andrew Jones: Brand-new trains, capable of operating under electric or diesel power, will be introduced into service by April 2022 with the full fleet required to be in service by the end of 2022. As an interim measure, from May 2020, modern diesel trains will begin to replace the current fleet on Midland Main Line intercity services.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Regional Growth Fund

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant on the Answer of 3 April 2019 to Question 238658, what funding was allocated from the Regional Growth Fund to (a) Scotland (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in each of the last five financial years; and what the Barnett consequential was from each of those allocations of funds.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government continues to support businesses throughout the UK committing up to £2.49 billion for city and growth deals to drive local economies across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which includes over £1.36 billion for deals in Scotland. Whilst the Regional Growth Fund is an England only scheme, similar support schemes are offered by devolved administrations.

Regional Assistance: Scotland

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant on the Answer of 3 April 2019 to Question 238659, whether Barnett consequentials for the Nissan deal were discussed at the meeting with the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government continues to support businesses throughout the UK committing up to £2.49 billion for city and growth deals to drive local economies across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which includes over £1.36 billion for deals in Scotland. In the case of the support offered to Nissan, this was offered via the Regional Growth Fund, which is an England only scheme, similar support schemes are offered by devolved administrations. Barnett consequentials were therefore not discussed.

Gardens

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Ordnance Survey's estimate is of the total area given over to domestic gardens in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Kelly Tolhurst: Ordnance Survey estimates the total area given over to domestic gardens (including estate/national trust/heritage gardens) of any size in a) England to be 3,415.67 km2 (341,566.64 hectares) and b) Wales to be 177.30 km2 (17,729.57 hectares).In addition, Ordnance Survey have looked at the distribution of these garden areas in England and Wales to compare the spread of area ranges to the number of residential properties. This was compared with average garden sizes for new build and large residential houses to get an upper limit for garden area to use for more standard domestic gardens. From this data set Ordnance Survey estimates the total area given to domestic gardens which are below 200m2 in size in a) England to be 1,231.72 km2 (123,171.75 hectares) and b) Wales to be 62.54 km2 (6,253.74 hectares).

Gardens

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Ordnance Survey's estimate is of the total area given over to domestic gardens in each local authority in England and Wales.

Kelly Tolhurst: Ordnance Survey estimates the total area given over to domestic gardens (including estate/national trust/heritage gardens) of any size in each local authority in England and Wales is 3,592.96 km2 (359,296.22 hectares). A breakdown for each authority can be viewed in the attached spreadsheet (1). In addition, Ordnance Survey have looked at the distribution of these garden areas in England and Wales to compare the spread of area ranges to the number of residential properties. This was compared with average garden sizes for new build and large residential houses to get an upper limit for garden area to use for more standard domestic gardens. From this data set Ordnance Survey estimates the total area given to domestic gardens which are below 200m2 in each local authority in England and Wales is 1,301.54 km2 (130,154.27 hectares). A breakdown for each authority can be viewed in the attached spreadsheet (2). 



Spreadsheet (1) - gardens all sizes by UA
(Excel SpreadSheet, 23.32 KB)




Spreadsheet (2) - gardens below 200m2 by UA
(Excel SpreadSheet, 23.28 KB)

Gardens

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what data the Land Registry holds on which domestic properties have gardens; and whether the INSPIRE Index Polygon or National Polygon Service hold spatial data on gardens.

Kelly Tolhurst: HM Land Registry does not hold any data on which domestic properties have gardens. Neither the INSPIRE Index Polygon dataset or National Polygon Service hold spatial data on gardens.

Domestic Appliances: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,  what steps the Office for Product Safety and Standards is taking to protect consumers from (a) unsafe and (b) non-compliant electrical goods in Northern Ireland.

Kelly Tolhurst: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 8th April 2019 to Question 239983.

Domestic Appliances: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which organisations the Office for Product Safety and Standards is working with in Northern Ireland to protect consumers from (a) unsafe and (b) non-compliant electrical goods.

Kelly Tolhurst: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 8th April 2019 to Question 239984.

Business: Fire Prevention

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the response of 28 March 2019 to written Question 238394, Business: Fire Prevention, what criteria his Department uses to decide on the exemption of Grenfell-related regulations.

Kelly Tolhurst: As set out in the Written Statement of 20 June 2018, regulatory provisions, including relevant building regulations, are excluded from the Business Impact Target if certified by departments or regulators as relating to the safety of tenants, residents and occupants in buildings that stem from, or relate to, Government’s response to the Grenfell tragedy, reviews, inquiries or working groups.

Energy

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of potential benefits of the policies in the Green Alliance's Community Energy Manifesto.

Claire Perry: Community energy has many benefits not only for the energy system but also for wider community resilience as set out in the Green Alliance’s Community Energy Manifesto. The Government already does value communities in the energy system. The Rural Community Energy Fund, which will reopen shortly, allows communities to identify and develop schemes in which they can invest and from which they can derive significant local benefits. This programme will now include community officers in each of the five local energy hubs in England. I am also proud of the way communities support and adopt innovation not just in technology but in business planning, in financing of projects and in engaging with the local communities they represent. As a Government we support this approach and as part of our ‘Prospering from the Energy Revolution’ programme, £40m has been allocated to 4 local future systems demonstrators and I am pleased that communities like the Low Carbon Hub in Oxford at the heart of those schemes. As the Manifesto itself points out, 5 out of 6 current BEIS Local Retrofit Supply Chain pilot projects are led by community groups. We are also supporting Community Energy England with the essential work they do to share best practice and celebrate success, and I attended their conference in Bristol in October, as part of Green Great Britain Week, to see this work in action.

British Business Bank: Scotland

Stephen Kerr: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what level of support the British Business Bank has provided to businesses in Scotland in each year since its establishment.

Kelly Tolhurst: Since its establishment in 2014, the British Business Bank has facilitated over £27.6m to 684 Scottish businesses in the 2014/15 financial year (FY), over £81.9m to 1,484 Scottish businesses in FY 2015/16, over £267.5m to 1,895 Scottish businesses in FY 2016/17, and over £291.6m to 2,881 Scottish businesses in FY 2017/18. These figures include Start-up loans from 2014. Since launching in 2012, the BBB Start-Up Loans programme specifically (which became part of the Business Bank in 2014) has issued over 3,500 loans in Scotland, averaging £7,200 each and worth over £25m in total. The British Business Bank is a Limited Partner for the three largest VC funds in Scotland (SEP, PenTech, and Panoramic) with over £80m invested in innovative, high growth companies.

Climate Change: Young People

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the implications of climate change for young people.

Claire Perry: The Government recognises that climate change is one of the most urgent and pressing challenges we face, which is why we have set out ambitious plans in our Clean Growth Strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through to 2032 and beyond. The Strategy builds on the UK’s strong progress we have made towards our legally binding targets, established in the world-leading Climate Change Act. Between 1990 and 2017, the UK reduced its emissions by over 40 per cent while growing the economy by more than two thirds. Looking ahead to the future, we have commissioned the Committee on Climate Change to provide advice on the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term emissions reduction targets, including on setting a net zero target. This advice is due in May and we will consider it carefully when it is received.

Climate Change and Environment Protection: Education

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on teaching climate change and environmental protection in schools.

Claire Perry: The Department for Education is responsible for setting the school curriculum. Climate change and environmental protection are already included in the school curriculum. It is important that young people are taught about climate change and environmental protection so they understand both the challenges we face and the solutions. This Government is also funding programmes in schools and colleges to increase the take-up of maths (such as the Advanced Maths Premium), computing and physics so students have the skills to help build and grow our low carbon economy.

Whirlpool Corporation: Tumble Dryers

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will reopen the Office for Product Safety and Standards review into Whirlpool tumble dryer safety issues.

Kelly Tolhurst: The role of the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is to hold businesses to account for their responsibility for consumer safety. OPSS will continue to scrutinise Whirlpool’s compliance with all of its obligations in regard to the affected tumble dryers. The Government published the findings of the review on 4th April and OPSS issued a Decision Letter setting out further actions for Whirlpool to take. We do not plan to reopen this review which formed part of OPSS ongoing work to hold Whirlpool to account.

Renewable Energy: Capital Investment

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the Government has invested in green energy projects in each year since 2005.

Claire Perry: This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Carbon Dioxide: Pollution

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether carbon trading remains a valid approach to controlling carbon dioxide pollution.

Claire Perry: As the Clean Growth Strategy clearly sets out, we remain firmly committed to carbon pricing as an emissions reduction tool whilst ensuring energy and trade intensive businesses are appropriately protected from any detrimental impacts on competitiveness. Carbon pricing is an effective tool to reduce emissions through the market. Cap-and-trade guarantees that emissions targets are met and emissions reductions take place where it is most cost-effective to do so. The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been instrumental in driving the adoption of emissions trading systems worldwide. While the EU ETS remains the world’s first and largest cap-and-trade system, similar systems exist or are in development across the world including in California, Quebec, New Zealand, South Korea and China. The EU ETS is on course to achieve emissions reductions of 21% by 2020 against 2005 levels in the traded sector in line with agreed EU targets.

Whirlpool Corporation: Tumble Dryers

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) Whirlpool’s and (b) the Office for Product Safety and Standards' response to problems with Whirlpool tumble dryer safety.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government’s priority is to keep consumers safe. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) review considered the adequacy of Whirlpool’s response on tumble dryer safety. As a result, OPSS has issued a Decision Letter to Whirlpool setting out further actions for the company to take in relation to risk management and communications with customers. OPSS will hold Whirlpool to account in regard to these requirements as part of the company’s obligations with regard to the safety of products. The OPSS review was conducted by scientific, legal and product safety experts including input from the Government’s Health and Safety Laboratory and it was peer reviewed by the BEIS Chief Scientific Advisor.

Business: Government Assistance

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to support businesses through the transition period as the UK leaves the EU.

Kelly Tolhurst: Following my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s agreement to an extension to Article 50 until October 31 2019, we will continue to provide businesses with the information and advice they need to prepare for EU Exit.Extensive engagement will continue to take place between Government and industry in preparation for EU exit. Through various channels, BEIS Ministers and officials have been engaging widely with businesses and trade associations each week on EU Exit. In particular, our communications and provision of materials to intermediaries is provided to ensure business obtain information quickly and efficiently.We will continue to use the public information campaign which directs businesses to GOV.UK/euexit where they are able to find the latest advice and information on many aspects of leaving the EU that may affect them and outlines the steps they need to take.We recognise the uncertainty that businesses have expressed and we are committed to maintaining and improving the excellent UK business environment. The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £5.9 billion of finance to over 82,000 smaller businesses.Further, at Budget 2018, the Start-up Loans programme was extended by one year to April 2021 meaning that another 10,000 loans will be made to entrepreneurs. We are also currently taking action to reduce the costs of doing business, including cutting corporation tax to 19%.Businesses can also apply for HMRC grants, depending on their circumstances to support private customs intermediaries, and traders to increase their capacities, and train employees in preparation for EU exit. Business can apply for this funding from HMRC until 31 May 2019.

Cars: Finance

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many individual voluntary agreements were issued in relation to car finance agreements in each of the last 10 years.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Insolvency Service does not hold this information.

Vacancies

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which sectors are facing labour shortages; and what steps he plans to take with cabinet colleagues to support future recruitment and training for those sectors.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department for Education’s (DfE) Employer Skills Survey provides a comprehensive picture of labour and skills shortages by sector, occupation and region across the UK. DfE is running the survey later this year, with publication expected in Spring 2020. The Government is already working to support recruitment and training across the UK for different sectors through the Industrial Strategy. This sets out a long-term plan to boost productivity and earning power across the country, including through the four Grand Challenges, which position the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future. Through the Industrial Strategy, we committed £406m investment in education and skills. In addition, through this year’s Autumn Budget the Government has invested over £1bn to support students throughout their education and give people the tools they need to succeed in the new economy. Our reforms to the skills system place employers at the centre, making the system more responsive to deliver the skills employers need and which the economy demands.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Coastal Areas

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his department has taken to support Local Enterprise Partnerships in (a) coastal communities and (b) Portsmouth.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government wants to ensure that communities, including those across Portsmouth and the wider Hampshire area, benefit from new investment and economic growth and strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships help deliver this vision of prosperous communities across England. Through the Local Growth Fund the Government has awarded over £9 billion to LEPs between 2015 and 2021. Across Portsmouth and the wider Hampshire area Government has committed £182.92m of Local Growth Deal funding through the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership. The LEP estimate that the Growth Deal will deliver 15,000 jobs; 1,000 new apprenticeships; 7,250 new homes; and 527,000 m2 of employment land. Projects are already achieving positive outcomes, such as the opening of The Hard Interchange a £4.9m investment to provide improved connectivity and provide an impressive new gateway to the City of Portsmouth. The UK coastline plays a vital role in the economy, history and culture of our country and Government is helping coastal communities flourish and strengthen their appeal as places to live, work and visit, through dedicated investment of over £200m. In Portsmouth, this includes £1.75 million to regenerate the Victorian Arches at Point Battery, Old Portsmouth, to create a centrally located "creative hub" with affordable work and exhibition space with leisure and catering facilities, £50,000 towards the restoration of South Parade Pier, Southsea and £50,000 towards the Southsea Lighthouse restoration project.

Post Offices: Pay

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post office branches Post Office Ltd pay above the normal remuneration fees scales.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. Remuneration fees paid to Post Office Branches is an operational matter for Post Office Limited. I have therefore asked Alisdair Cameron, the Group interim Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Post Offices: Retail Trade

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which retailers operate over ten post offices; and how many post offices do each of those retailers operate.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. Commercial arrangements with retailers are an operational matter for Post Office Limited. I have therefore asked Alisdair Cameron, the Group interim Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

New Businesses

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many start-up businesses have been created in (a) Medway, (b) Kent and (c) England since 2010.

Kelly Tolhurst: When looking at business start-ups we look at business births, this is because there is no direct measure of the number of business start-ups in the UK. The Business Demography Publication by the Office for National Statistics details the number of business births in the UK with data available from 2012. Business births are defined as businesses newly registered for at least one of VAT and PAYE. The following table gives the number of business births in Medway, Kent and England from 2012 to 2017:   Birth count of new businesses201220132014201520162017Total period:a) Medway9401,2151,2301,3701,4701,3057,530b) Kent County6,3257,7457,6808,3358,7307,89546,710c) England 239,660308,565312,920344,065373,580339,3451,918,135

*No heading*

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to help businesses create more highly skilled jobs in (a) Gillingham and Rainham, (b) Medway and (c) Kent.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government has invited all Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in England to develop Local Industrial Strategies. We aim to agree these with all places by early 2020. For Kent, the South East LEP will set out an ambitious long-term vision for the area to increase its productivity, build on its established strengths, and create new opportunities for people and businesses in emerging sectors and industries. The government know that regions across the UK have different skills needs, so will build on local strengths to deliver opportunities for people wherever they live. One way we will achieve this is through Skills Advisory Panels which bring together local employers and skills providers to pool knowledge on skills and labour market needs and work together to understand and address key local challenges. These Panels will be led by the Local Enterprise Partnership, and will influence Local Industrial Strategy development. In Kent, and the wider South East LEP area, the government is working in partnership with local business and civic leaders to grow skills and opportunities for workers across the area by:- Delivering an increase of 198,900 jobs since 2010 and 31,080 apprenticeship starts last year.- Investing £590 million of Growth Deal funding to the South East LEP since 2014. delivering 78,000 jobs, 29,000 homes and attracting a further £960 million extra investment into the South East, including £22 million spent on 29 skills projects.- Investing £6.5 million for the Kent and Medway EDGE Hub. .- Backing the Innovation Park Medway, within the Kent Enterprise Zone with £4.4 million funding to help attract high quality technology, engineering and manufacturing companies to the area.Supporting the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Kent and Medway Growth Hub to help small and medium sized enterprises in the areas access the support they need to grow and thrive.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Spratly Islands: Military Bases

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whatt assessment has the Department made of the legality United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) of the construction of bases in the Spratly Islands including as Mischief (Panganiban) Reef, Subi (Zamora) Reef and Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) Reef.

Mark Field: We take no sides in the sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea. But we are deeply committed to international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and upholding existing arbitrations.We are therefore concerned by the militarisation of disputed features and any threat or implied threat of force. We monitor the situation and oppose any action which changes the facts on the ground, raises tensions or hinders the chance of peaceful settlement of the disputes.​

Middle East: Politics and Government

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the outcomes of the Warsaw Conference on 14 February 2019 in Poland that was attended by representatives of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, France, Germany, the US and the United Kingdom.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary held constructive discussions during and on the margins of the Warsaw Conference in February. He discussed a wide range of issues related to Middle East security, and on 13 February the Foreign Secretary co-hosted a meeting of the Yemen Quad, where they highlighted their commitment to progress on Yemen, which is at a critical juncture.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in African countries on the decision of the Troika to support the installation of an alternative government to the Bashir regime.

Harriett Baldwin: We recognise the importance of Sudan's neighbours and the wider region at this important time and continue to engage with them and the wider international community to support any process that delivers credibly the demands of the people of Sudan. Our Troika statement of 9 April was clear that the UK and our Troika partners, Norway and the United States, will support a political transition in Sudan that credibly responds to protestor demands. We also welcome the statement of the African Union of 11 April expressing solidarity with the people of Sudan, a commitment to support them, and that this military take-over is not the appropriate response to the challenges facing Sudan.

Human Rights

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans are in place to ensure (a) the protection of and (b) assistance to human rights defenders in overseas states.

Mark Field: The UK recognises the important work that human rights defenders (HRDs) do to protect and defend the full range of human rights. Our network of embassies and high commissions will continue to work with HRDs, using the recently updated UK Guidelines on Working with Human Rights Defenders. We support HRDs in a variety of ways: sometimes through financial support, but more often the value we provide is by getting to know prominent HRDs and supporting them either publicly or privately. There is no single template for doing this. It is for Heads of Mission to decide how to implement and use the guidelines, in a manner appropriate to the local context. The UK will continue to use the multilateral system to press for strong guidelines for the treatment of human rights defenders by states. At the high-level meeting on HRDs at the UN of 18 December, we called on governments to allow HRDs to fight for human rights; and enable civil society to engage and challenge governments without fear. In November, we co-sponsored a new UN General Assembly resolution on freedom of assembly and association, further strengthening support for civil society and human rights defenders.

Brunei: Human Rights

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to prevent any Minister or official of HM Government from (a) using accommodation, (b) attending any event at a Dorchester Collection hotel until (i) the Dorchester Collection is no longer under ownership of the Brunei Investment Agency or (b) he is satisfied that Brunei has a legal system that protects universal human rights.

Mark Field: ​As I stated in the Westminster Hall debate on Brunei on 10 April, the British Government does not support calls for an economic boycott. This includes the Brunei Investment Agency-owned businesses, including the Dorchester Hotel in London. We believe that open and honest discussions best support our efforts to encourage Brunei to uphold its international human rights obligations, and to respect individual freedoms.

Commonwealth: Foreign Relations

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote the Commonwealth; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: The Government is committed to promoting the Commonwealth within the United Kingdom, across the Commonwealth in partnership with its other 52 members, and in the wider international community.A year ago, the Government hosted a highly successful Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which was attended by 46 Heads of Government. As current Chair-in-Office, the United Kingdom is driving the delivery of commitments which Heads made at that meeting. Progress in that effort was set out by my Right Honorable Friend the Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary in a Written Ministerial Statement on 14 January. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office will shortly submit a more detailed update to the Foreign Affairs Committee.Last September, in her speech to the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister spoke about the Commonwealth's work and values, and she spoke explicitly as Chair-in-Office on behalf of all 53 Commonwealth members - the first time the Commonwealth's voice has been heard in the UN General Assembly in that way.Also demonstrating our commitment to the Commonwealth, we are opening nine new diplomatic missions in Commonwealth countries: Lesotho, Eswatini, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. We will then be diplomatically represented in 47 Commonwealth countries.On Commonwealth Day in March, UK diplomatic missions around the world organised events to celebrate the work and values of the Commonwealth. These ranged from a fashion show in Singapore focused on recycled materials, to an event in Brasilia exploring how the global Commonwealth community is working together to achieve the goals set out at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year, aimed at a more sustainable, more secure, more fair and more prosperous future. In the UK, the Commonwealth flag was flown from government buildings and by local councils across the United Kingdom.

Bahrain: Courts

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2019 to Question HL13129, what the nature of the support provided to independent oversight bodies in Bahrain is.

Mark Field: The United Kingdom has been working with Bahrain’s independent human rights oversight bodies since their creation following recommendations from the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in 2012. Our work has supported the building of effective institutions in order to carry out their set mandates. While these bodies still have more to do, they have already demonstrated their abilities including through the prosecution of over 80 police officers accused of human rights abuses.

Japan: Foreign Relations

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of UK diplomatic relations and cooperation with Japan; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary recently visited Tokyo and met Prime Minister Abe and Foreign Minister Kono to discuss the UK- Japan relationship. UK-Japan bilateral relations are the strongest they have been in years. We have a deep and dynamic partnership based on shared values and goals. Our already strong trade and investment relationship will expand further as we leave the EU and continue to enhance our security cooperation, transformed since the Prime Minister’s visit to Japan in 2017. As Japan hosts this year’s G20, we will be working together closely to strengthen the rules based international system and ensure a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific region.

Former Soviet Republics: Foreign Relations

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of bilateral relations between the UK and the countries of the former Soviet Union; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: The UK has Embassies in all the countries of the former Soviet Union. Our engagement is aimed at fostering a more secure, stable and prosperous region, and increasing support for the rules-based international system. In all countries, we are looking to strengthen the bilateral relationship, by focusing on areas of cooperation where our interests overlap, whilst holding firm to our values.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the news story on Troika statement on current unrest in Sudan published his Department's website on 10 April 2019, whether there has been a change in UK policy towards the Government in Sudan.

Harriett Baldwin: The statement of 9 April made clear that the UK and our Troika partners, Norway and the United States, continue to support an inclusive political settlement in Sudan that addresses long standing conflicts and delivers economic and political reforms, more recently one that responds credibly to protestor demands. This remains the case following the removal of Omar al-Bashir as President. We also welcome the African Union’s statement of 11 April expressing solidarity with the people of Sudan, a commitment to support them, and that a military take-over is not the appropriate response to the challenges facing Sudan.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the news story on Troika statement on current unrest in Sudan published his Department's website on 10 April 2019, who the term authorities refers to.

Harriett Baldwin: Our calls for a peaceful transition that credibly responds to the demands to the people of Sudan is addressed to those exercising the authority of the state of Sudan and its security institutions; whether the Government under President Omar al-Bashir, or the Military Council that removed him from power on 11 April.​

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Disclosure of Information

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has entered into with Departmental staff in each of the last five years.

Sir Alan Duncan: We have not entered into any non-disclosure agreements with Departmental staff in the last five years.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the political situation in Sudan.

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the situation in Sudan.

Harriett Baldwin: On 7 April the EU spokesperson released a statement, which we fully support, on behalf of the EU High Representative calling for the Sudanese authorities to commit to a peaceful, credible, legitimate and inclusive process that will allow Sudan to carry out essential reforms. We continue to engage with EU counterparts bilaterally and in EU fora to shape an international response that delivers credibly the demands of the people of Sudan for a more inclusive and swift move to civilian rule.​

Central African Republic: Refugees

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with European Union counterparts on refugees in the Central African Republic.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK has held discussions with other European countries on supporting the population of the Central African Republic (CAR) including refugees hosted by CAR (1,848 Congolese refugees: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) February 2019). My officials have attended recent meetings on Bêkou – the EU multi-donor Trust Fund for CAR and its extension. We remain supportive of the Bêkou Trust Fund and its activities, which contribute to alleviating the suffering of Central Africans, and the small number of refugees hosted by CAR will continue.The UK has provided over £111m of funding to CAR and CAR refugees in Cameroon and Chad since 2014. We are committed in our support for the crisis, affecting Central Africans in CAR and the region.

Department for Exiting the European Union

British Nationals Abroad: EU Countries

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what estimate his Department has made of the number of UK citizens in each age group living in the EU27 that are expected to return to the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

Mr Robin Walker: The UK government has always acted to ensure that UK nationals can continue to live their lives broadly as they do now, and that remains our objective both in a deal and no deal scenario. The Withdrawal Agreement will protect the rights of around one million UK nationals in the EU and over 3 million EU citizens in the UK.The UK cannot act unilaterally to protect the rights of UK nationals in the EU and that is why we have always prioritised reaching a reciprocal agreement with the EU. The Government has been calling on Member States to protect the rights of UK nationals in a no deal scenario and we welcome the progress that has been made. All Member States have set out their no deal plans and provided some reassurances that the rights of UK nationals will be protected in the event of a no deal, but we continue to call on them to go further and match our no deal offer to EU citizens.The Government recognises the concerns of UK nationals in the EU including those who may choose to return to the UK, and published a policy paper on 4 April 2019 setting out the steps that we have taken to address these concerns should UK nationals decide to return, regardless of whether a deal is reached with the EU.

EU Countries: Security

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps he is taking to help ensure continued cooperation with the EU on internal security threats; and if he will make a statement.

Kwasi Kwarteng: As set out in the Political Declaration, the Government has agreed the outline terms of a comprehensive future security partnership with the EU including a close, reciprocal relationship on internal security.The Political Declaration includes arrangements for the exchange of Passenger Name Records data, DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registration data, alongside streamlined procedures for extradition arrangements. It also confirms a shared commitment to continued cooperation between law enforcement bodies, including with Europol and Eurojust.The exact terms and detail of the future relationship will be a matter for the next phase of negotiations.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Disclosure of Information

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Attorney General, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has entered into with Departmental staff in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland: The Attorney General’s Office has not entered into any non-disclosure agreements in the last five years.

Department for International Development

Burma: Rohingya

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle sexual exploitation and trafficking of Rohingya refugee women and girls.

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with his international counterparts on preventing Rohingya refugees from becoming victims of human trafficking.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID is addressing the prevention of trafficking of Rohingya refugees as a cross-border issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Up to 18% of DFID’s latest £70 million funding to the Rohingya crisis response in Bangladesh is devoted to the protection of rights for refugees, including prevention and monitoring of sexual exploitation and abuse. DFID funding includes support for family planning and clinical support to survivors of sexual violence, and women’s centres that offer a safe space, psychosocial support and activities for women and girls. In addition, we have tripled our funding to deal with modern day slavery in Myanmar. The Secretary of State for International Development raised her concerns about the risk of trafficking of Rohingya refugee women and girls in February with the Bangladesh Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Education and Minister for Disaster Management and Relief.

Department for Education

Students: Plagiarism

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students had their university degree award rescinded due to cheating or plagiarism in each of the last three years.

Chris Skidmore: Holding answer received on 17 April 2019



The information requested on degrees rescinded because of academic offenses is not held centrally. In 2016, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) found there were approximately 17,000 instances of academic offences per year in the UK.The use of companies that sell bespoke essays to students who pass the work off as their own undermines the reputation of the education system in this country, and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit.The government expects that educational institutions do everything in their power to prevent students being tempted by these companies. The most recent guidance from the QAA highlights the importance of severe sanctions of suspension or expulsion if ‘extremely serious academic misconduct’ has been discovered.On 20 March, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education challenged PayPal to stop processing payments for ‘essay mills’ as part of an accelerated drive to preserve and champion the quality of the UK’s world-leading higher education system. PayPal is now working with businesses associated with essay-writing services to ensure its platform is not used to facilitate deceptive and fraudulent practices in education.Google and YouTube have also responded by removing hundreds of advertisements for essay writing services and promotional content from their sites.In addition, the department published an Education Technology strategy on 3 April which challenges tech companies to identify how anti-cheating software can tackle the growth of essay mills and stay one step ahead of the cheats. This strategy can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/realising-the-potential-of-technology-in-education.We are determined to beat the cheats who threaten the integrity of our higher education system.

Overseas Students: EU Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether EU  nationals will remain eligible for home fee status at UK universities in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: Holding answer received on 17 April 2019



To help give certainty we announced guarantees on student finance for EU nationals.The government announced in July 2018 that EU nationals (and their family members) who start a course in England in the 2019/20 academic year or before will continue to be eligible for ‘home fee’ status and student finance support from Student Finance England for the duration of their course, provided they meet the residency requirement. These guarantees apply whether the UK leaves the EU with a deal or not. Applications for courses starting in academic year 2020/21 do not open until September 2019. We will ensure students and institutions have the information they need well in advance of that date.Students from the EU make an important contribution to the universities sector and it is a testament to our system that so many students from abroad choose to come and study here. The arrangements for EU nationals will be considered as part of wider discussions about the UK's relationship with the EU. We continue to assess options to prepare for those discussions.

Overseas Students: EU Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the introduction of international fees on the number of applications from EU nationals for (a) undergraduate, (b) Masters and (c) PhD study.

Chris Skidmore: Holding answer received on 17 April 2019



To help give certainty we announced guarantees on student finance for EU nationals.The government announced in July 2018 that EU nationals (and their family members) who start a course in England in the 2019/20 academic year or before will continue to be eligible for ‘home fee’ status and student finance support from Student Finance England for the duration of their course, provided they meet the residency requirement. These guarantees apply whether the UK leaves the EU with a deal or not. Applications for courses starting in academic year 2020/21 do not open until September 2019. We will ensure students and institutions have the information they need well in advance of that date.Students from the EU make an important contribution to the universities sector and it is a testament to our system that so many students from abroad choose to come and study here. The arrangements for EU nationals will be considered as part of wider discussions about the UK's relationship with the EU. We continue to assess options to prepare for those discussions.

Schools: Finance

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April to Question 234655 on School Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs), if he will publish a breakdown of the £35 million of savings and revenue generation opportunities identified as part of the SRMA pilot programme in 2017-18.

Nick Gibb: The Department intends to publish a breakdown of the opportunities identified by School Resource Management Advisers as part of a wider published evaluation of the pilot programme later this year.

Children: Social Services

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 01 April 2019 to Question 237047 on Social Services: Children, what estimate his Department has made of funding needed by local authorities to meet demand for children’s social care services in each year of the period covered by the forthcoming Spending Review.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government will set out its approach to long-term funding decisions following the publication of the Spending Review.

Schools: Environment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs on increasing children’s awareness and understanding of the environment in schools.

Nick Gibb: The Government’s 25-year environment plan, published in January 2018, sets out the ambition to improve the environment within a generation. The Department for Education (DfE) has worked closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the plan. DfE is funding the children and nature programme, a £10 million programme that aims to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to the natural environment. The programme has been designed to make it possible for schools to undertake a range of activities in natural spaces, including learning about nature and how to care for the natural environment. The programme complements the scope that already exists to study environmental issues throughout the curriculum - in particular in science and geography lessons.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all potential students with a diagnosis of (a) dyslexia and (b) specific learning difficulties who had their assessment completed by someone without the Assessment Practising Certificate before the end of February 2019 will need to complete and pay for a second assessment to be eligible for the disabled students’ allowance.

Chris Skidmore: Students with specific learning difficulties, including dyslexia, applying for Disabled Students’ Allowances must provide as evidence of their disability diagnostic assessments undertaken by persons who hold Assessment Practising Certificates or who are registered as psychologists with the Health and Care Professions Council.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether those people involved in teaching and diagnosing pupils with dyslexia and specific learning difficulties in the school system have been consulted on the changes to who is able to conduct assessments for eligibility for the disabled students’ allowance.

Chris Skidmore: In 2018 the department reviewed the requirement that students with specific learning difficulties applying for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) must submit a post-16 diagnostic assessment to determine their eligibility for DSAs. This review also sought views on which assessments should be used to determine eligibility, regardless of the age of the person being assessed. The organisations invited to contribute to the review included organisations involved with teaching and diagnosing pupils with dyslexia and specific learning difficulties in the school system.

Apprentices: Taxation

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of Apprenticeship Levy funding that has been spent on (a) Level 2 apprenticeships, (b) Level 3 apprenticeships, (c) Level 4 apprenticeships, (d) Level 5 apprenticeships and (e) Level 6 apprenticeships since 2017, and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: HM Treasury provides the Department for Education with a fixed annual budget for apprenticeships, separate from employers’ levy funds. This budget covers the costs of existing apprentices and new apprenticeship starts for all employers, as well as the running costs of the programme. The amount spent on apprenticeships starts with all employers, by level, between the introduction of the levy in May 2017 and February 2019, is set out in the attached table. The amount spent in levy-paying employers is given separately. Both sets of figures include payments for additional support to learners, such as for English and maths training.



PQ_243419_Table_showing_total_apprenticeship_spend
(PDF Document, 10.36 KB)

Apprentices: Retail Trade

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the amount that the retail sector has (a) paid into the apprenticeship levy and (b) used to fund apprenticeships since 2017, and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The apprenticeship levy is collected from employers by HM Revenue and Customs.The Education and Skills Funding Agency does not require levy-paying employers to register an industry sector when registering an apprenticeship service account and is therefore unable to supply the information on apprenticeships spending by the retail sector since 2017.

Apprentices

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of apprenticeship starts for (a) Level 2 apprenticeships, (b) Level 3 apprenticeships, (c) Level 4 apprenticeships, (d) Level 5 apprenticeships and (e) Level 6 apprenticeship in (i) 2020 and (ii) 2021, and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: ​The department does not produce forecasts for apprenticeship starts by level. Apprenticeships are paid jobs and their availability is dependent on employers offering opportunities and hiring apprentices to meet their skills needs; employers can choose which apprenticeships they offer, how many and when.

Apprentices

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the (a) economic and (b) employment benefits of each apprenticeship level; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: Research published in 2015 demonstrates the high level of return to investment delivered by the apprenticeship programme. Apprenticeships at level 2 and level 3 deliver £26 and £28 of economic benefits respectively for each pound of government investment. This can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/435166/bis_15_323_Measuring_the_Net_Present_Value_of_Further_Education_in_England.pdf.In October 2018, we published our Further Education: Outcome Based Success publication 2010/11 – 2015/16, which covers the destinations (into employment and learning), earnings and the progression of learners: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-outcome-based-success-measures.The publication reveals the average earnings, by level, of those who achieved an apprenticeship in 2015/16, one year after completion:Level 2: £15,700Level 3: £17,700Level 4: £22,100Level 5: £25,100 Over the past few years we have introduced major reforms to apprenticeships. As the system is still adapting, it is too early to know the full economic and earnings benefits that these changes will bring.Our Apprenticeships Reform Programme Benefits Realisation Strategy, published in March 2017, sets out a broad range of success measures for the programme. We publish annual progress updates, of which the most recent can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/707896/Progress_report_on_the_Apprenticeships_Reform_Programme_May_2018.pdf.We will be publishing our 2019 update shortly.

Apprentices: Taxation

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the apprenticeship levy funding has been spent on the administrative costs of the (a) Education and Skills Funding Agency and (b) Institute for Apprenticeships since 2017, and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: Employers’ levy funds are available for them to use to cover the cost of the training and assessment of their apprentices. Employers have 24 months to spend their funds from the point they enter their accounts. These funds are not used to support the administrative costs of the system. Separate to this, HM Treasury provides the Department for Education, including the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute), with fixed annual administration and programme budgets. In 2017-18, the ESFA spent £36 million (equating to less than 2 percent) of the £2 billion apprenticeships programme budget on the cost to deliver and run the programme. In addition, the Institute spent £3.8 million programme budget on running the programme. The Department for Education (including the ESFA and the Institute) are also provided with administration budgets. In 2017-18, the administration spend was approximately £6.4 million in the department, and £33 million in the ESFA. This includes an estimate of the proportion of departmental overhead costs attributable to the apprenticeships programme. In addition, £4.6 million related to administration spend for the Institute. The department will publish spending on the running costs of the programme for 2018-19 in its annual report and accounts.

Apprentices: Taxation

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the amount that employers will pay into the apprenticeship levy in 2020; how much apprenticeships will cost in 2020; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The apprenticeship levy is collected by HM Revenue and Customs from all UK employers with a pay bill in excess of £3 million. In the 2019/20 financial year, it is forecast that UK employers will pay £2.8 billion into the levy. Forecasts for future levy receipts are published by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and updated monthly and they can be found here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2019/.The amount raised by the levy is distinct from the Department for Education’s ring-fenced apprenticeship budget, which is set to fund apprenticeships in England only. The budget has been set in advance by HM Treasury for the current spending review period which runs until the end of 2019/20.In 2019/20, over £2.5 billion will be available for investment in apprenticeships in England. Currently, we expect to remain within budget in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years. The level of funding for the programme beyond 2020 will be determined by the forthcoming Spending Review.

Apprentices: Taxation

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the funds employers have paid into the apprenticeship levy has been disbursed on apprenticeships since 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: From the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in May 2017 to the end of January 2019, the most recent month for which data are available, levy-paying employers utilised £601 million of the funds available to them to pay for apprenticeship training in England. This represents 15% of the total funds entering employers’ accounts in the same period (£3,905 million). The total drawdown of £601 million does not include other costs, such as incentives and additional payments for disadvantaged apprentices.Once levy funds enter employers’ accounts, they can be used to pay for training for 24 months before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. We don’t anticipate that all levy-payers will use all the funds in their accounts, though they are able to. Income from the levy is also used to fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers.

Apprentices

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the requirement for 20 percent off-the-job training on the number of Level 2 apprenticeship starts; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The requirement for a minimum of 20% off-the-job training was introduced to the funding rules in May 2017 alongside other elements of our apprenticeship reforms – including the introduction of the apprenticeship levy. It is not possible to evaluate in isolation the effect of 20% off-the-job training on level 2 apprenticeship starts.

Young People: Carers

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support young carers with their education in (a) Merseyside, (b) the North West of England and (c) the rest of England.

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to schools on identifying pupils who are young carers; and what steps is he taking to help ensure that young carers achieve the same standards of educational attainment at GCSE level as other pupils.

Nadhim Zahawi: ​The government is committed to supporting young carers so that they are properly protected from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities and supported to achieve their full potential.We know that consistent identification of young carers remains challenging, which is why we have funded the Carers Trust to review and disseminate best practice in the identification of young carers - this commitment was set out in the Carers Action Plan 2018-20. The Children in Need review is also identifying how to spread best practice on raising educational outcomes of children in need, including those young carers assessed as being in need.The department provides schools with £2.4 billion each year in additional funding through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils; each eligible pupil attracts £1,320 to primary schools and £935 to secondary schools. Eligibility for the pupil premium is based largely on current or past claims for free school meals. Some research with young carers aged 14-16 suggested that around 60% already attract the pupil premium through their eligibility for free school meals.We expect schools to make effective use of their pupil premium and do not tell them how to use it. Schools know their pupils best and will spend the grant to meet pupils needs, which may include needs arising from a caring role. Schools are held to account for their pupil premium use through school inspection and information in performance tables, and most schools are required to publish details about their pupil premium strategy and its impact. These are national programmes of work which will benefit young carers across England. The department is not undertaking regional programmes at this time.We recognise, however, that there are issues that are specific to the North East around education and employment prospects for children and young people. That is why, in October 2018, the department committed £24 million to Opportunity North East, in order to tackle issues holding back young people from all communities, raise aspiration, and boost social mobility in the region.

Schools: Crowdfunding

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on schools in England using crowdfunding to raise money for supplies.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not collect information about how many schools use crowdfunding to raise money for supplies. Schools’ financial returns show that income from donations and voluntary funds has remained steady at about 0.7% of schools’ overall budgets since 2011-12.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his oral contribution of  25 February 2019, Official Report, column 36, which budget the £6 million allocated for the development of a range of tools to support the introduction of new subjects Relationships and Sex Education, Relationships Education and Health Education will come from for the financial year 2019-2020.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, , pursuant to his oral contribution of 25 February 2019, Official Report, column 36, if he will make Relationships Education, Sex and Relationships Education and Health Education available as a free teacher subject specialism training course; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education. That is why we have announced that we have a budget of £6 million in the 2019-20 financial year to develop a programme of support for schools. This funding will come from the budget allocated to the Qualifications, Curriculum and Extra-Curricular Directorate in the Department. Further funding beyond the next financial year is a matter of the forthcoming Spending Review. We will provide a supplementary guide, targeted support on materials, and training; and are encouraging schools to start teaching the subjects from September 2019 if they feel able to. We also intend to produce supporting information for schools on how to teach about all aspects of internet safety, not just those relating to relationships, sex and health.We know from our consultation on the draft statutory guidance with schools that training was identified as a priority for many teachers. The Department is currently working with teachers and schools to determine how training for these subjects should be structured and what should be contained in it.

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of two-year olds eligible for 15 funded hours of early education and care have taken up that entitlement in each local authority area in each of the last three years.

Nadhim Zahawi: The percentage of 2-year-olds benefitting from funded early education by local authority in each of the last 3 years is published in Table 8LA of the ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ statistical release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018.The number of 2-year-olds benefitting from funded early education by local authority is published in Table 1LA of the ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ statistical release. As at January 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018. As at January 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2017. As at January 2016: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2016.

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of total funding on the funded early education offer for (a) two, (b) three and (c) four year olds is spent in (i) PVI settings, (ii) maintained settings and (iii) childminder settings in the latest year for which data is available.

Nadhim Zahawi: ​We plan to spend around £3.5 billion on our early education entitlements this year alone – more than any other government.The department publishes data from local authority planned early years budget in the early years funding benchmarking tool.The tool provides a breakdown of spend by early years provider types, including budget information for private, voluntary and independent (PVI) setting and maintained settings for 2 year olds and 3-4 year olds.Budget information for childminders are included within the PVI total budget. The data is as reported by the local authorities and the latest data from 2018-19 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-benchmarking-tool.

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of three and four year old children not accessing the funded early education offer by local authority.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested on 3 and 4 year old children not accessing funded early education is not held centrally.Tables 2LA and 8LA of the ‘Provision for children under 5’ statistical release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018, shows the number and take up rates for 3 and 4 year old children.

Pupil Premium

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children in receipt of the early years pupil premium achieved a good level of development in each year for which data is available.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. ​

Schools: Finance

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in each year since 1995 in real terms (a) what total school funding there was, (b) what total secondary school funding there was, (c) what total primary school funding there was, (d) what total school funding per pupil there was, (e) what total secondary school funding was per pupil; and (f) what total primary school spending per pupil was.

Nick Gibb: Per pupil funding in cash terms from 1996/97 to 2018/19, and total schools funding from 2001/02 to 2018/19 are set out in following tables. Before 2001 schools funding was included within the local government funding settlement. For this reason, the total funding prior to 2001 is not readily available. Before 2018/19 funding was not allocated separately for primary and secondary phases. The government publishes gross domestic product deflators that can be used to understand the impact of inflation over time. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-october-2018-budget-2018.Table 1Funding 1996/97 to 2000/01 1996/971997/981998/991999/002000/01Funding for schools (£m) cash termsn/an/an/an/an/aFunding per pupil cash term£2,178£2,352£2,485£2,673£2,938Per pupil funding to local authorities for financial years based on Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) allocations for pupils aged 3 to 15. Table 2Funding 2001/02 to 2005/06 2001/022002/032003/042004/052005/06Funding for schools (£m) cash terms21,71023,68325,16927,24428,944Funding per pupil cash terms£3,184£3,367£3,612£3,853£4,132Funding to local authorities based on SSA to 2003/04 and Education Formula Share (EFS) allocations from 2003/04 for pupils aged 3 to 15. Table 3Funding 2006/07 to 2012/13 2006/072007/082008/092009/102010/112011/122012/13Funding for schools (£m) cash terms30,63832,35333,47734,71036,50637,16738,035Funding per pupil cash term£4,200£4,487£4,687£4,887£5,143£5,169£5,245Up to 2010/11, the figures include the total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) (schools block, early years block and the high needs block), and other schools related grants. From 2011/12 the total funding figures includes the DSG, the pupil premium and other schools related grants. Table 4Funding 2013/14 to 2018/19Financial year2013/142014/152015/162016/172017/182018/19Funding for schools40,86142,46643,96544,41345,74246,332(£ million)High Needs Block4,9675,1845,2475,3005,8276,115(£ million)Schools Block30,41230,65532,16832,65033,09433,684(£ million)Schools block unit of funding (£)4,5514,5554,6124,6364,619n/aSchools block primary unit of funding (£)n/an/an/an/an/a4,058Schools block secondary unit of funding (£)n/an/an/an/an/a5,229From 2013/14, per pupil funding figures are based on the DSG schools block only. Schools receive funding on top of this through the pupil premium, primary PE and sport premium, Year 7 Catch Up premium and the grant to support universal infant free school meals (from 2014/2015). In 2017/18, the balance between the schools and high needs block was re-set, with some £250 million being transferred from the schools block to the high needs block, to better reflect the actual spending decisions that local authorities had been taking. This accounts for the apparent reduction in the School Block Unit of Funding in that year. Before 2018/19, schools block funding was not allocated separately for primary and secondary phases.

Care Leavers: Homelessness

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of care leavers in (a) Mansfield and (b) Nottinghamshire that have been homeless in each of the last five years.

Nadhim Zahawi: ​There were no young people in Nottinghamshire local authority area aged 19 to 21 who were care leavers and classified as homeless or of no fixed abode in the last 5 years.Figures for young people in Nottinghamshire local authority area aged 17 and 18 who were care leavers have only been collected since the year ending 31 March 2016. None of these young people were classified as homeless or of no fixed abode by the local authority.The department does not collect data at parliamentary constituency level.Further information on care leavers over the last 5 years in the Nottinghamshire local authority area is published by the department in the underlying data tables accompanying the statistical release, ‘Children looked after in England (including adoption): 2017 to 2018’. The latest release is available on the department’s statistical web page at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.Previous releases can also be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.

Ministry of Justice

Sentencing: Females

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women in prison on a sentence of imprisonment for public protection that have children.

Lucy Frazer: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 15 March 2019.The correct answer should have been:

There are 2,489 unreleased IPP 10,018 IPP prisoners, of which 46 344 are women. We know that when coming into contact with the criminal justice system, some women choose not to disclose that they have children. Data is therefore not currently collected on numbers of prisoners with children (whether that be total numbers of children or dependent children). Our Female Offender Strategy is committed to improving outcomes for women at all stages of the justice system, and this includes supporting those who have children. We know that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to be a primary carer and imprisoned mothers are more likely to be living with their children prior to custody – around 60% of women compared with about 45% of men in prison who have children. Figures from a 2015 data matching exercise with the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions showed that between 24% and 31% of all female offenders were estimated to have one or more child dependents. We recognise the impact that imprisonment of a parent can have on families. That is why we have asked Lord Farmer to continue his work on the importance of family ties by conducting a further review into female offenders in custody and the community. Lord Farmer is expected to report his findings to Ministers shortly.

Lucy Frazer: There are 2,489 unreleased IPP 10,018 IPP prisoners, of which 46 344 are women. We know that when coming into contact with the criminal justice system, some women choose not to disclose that they have children. Data is therefore not currently collected on numbers of prisoners with children (whether that be total numbers of children or dependent children). Our Female Offender Strategy is committed to improving outcomes for women at all stages of the justice system, and this includes supporting those who have children. We know that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to be a primary carer and imprisoned mothers are more likely to be living with their children prior to custody – around 60% of women compared with about 45% of men in prison who have children. Figures from a 2015 data matching exercise with the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions showed that between 24% and 31% of all female offenders were estimated to have one or more child dependents. We recognise the impact that imprisonment of a parent can have on families. That is why we have asked Lord Farmer to continue his work on the importance of family ties by conducting a further review into female offenders in custody and the community. Lord Farmer is expected to report his findings to Ministers shortly.

Employment Support Allowance: Appeals

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the Employment Support Allowance appeals to the First Tier Tribunal that were cleared without a hearing were (a) withdrawn, (b) struck out and (c) superseded in (a) Quarter 1 and (b) Quarter 2 of 2018-19.

Lucy Frazer: Information about outcomes for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. The information requested is in the table below.BenefitOutcome TypeQuarter 1 (April to June) 2018/19 pQuarter 2 (July to September) 2018/19 pESA 1Withdrawn560505Struck out2918Superseded238017481Data includes ESA and Incapacity Benefit reassessment. ESA was introduced in October 2008 and Incapacity Benefit reassessment followed in October 2010.p Provisional data subject to change.An SSCS appeal may be captured more than once as a hearing or non-hearing clearance should the original decision be overturned, set aside or an Upper Tribunal re-hearing is granted.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.   Latest figures for ESA (Between April 2014 – September 2018) indicate that 3.9m ESA (post WCA) decisions have been made, of these 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned.

Care Proceedings

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and proportion of cases before the family courts in England involve women who have been subject to previous care proceedings involving another child in each of the last three years.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on cases before the family courts that involve women who have been the subject of previous care proceedings involving another child.

Care Proceedings

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the average cost of a care proceeding before the family courts in each of the last 3 years.

Lucy Frazer: The Government’s latest estimates of the average cost (rounded to the nearest £10) of a public law case before the family courts, covering both the issue and hearing stages, are:2017/18 £4,1802016/17 £3,7902015/16 £4,270

Asylum: Children

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timeline is for tabling an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 which would grant legal aid to unaccompanied and separated children.

Lucy Frazer: We have committed to lay legislation to bring non-asylum immigration matters into the scope of legal aid for separated migrant children. Subject to parliamentary time allowing we will be laying this legislation in the coming months.

Coroners

Emma Dent Coad: What his policy is on the provision of legal aid for inquests.

Lucy Frazer: We published our review of legal aid for inquests on 7 February. The evidence confirmed the inquest process should remain about fact finding and establishing the truth rather than apportioning blame. We are working on raising the awareness of legal aid for representation at inquests by publishing new guidance for bereaved people. Legal aid for inquests is available through the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, and we are working to simplify the application process for this. We are committed to ensuring bereaved families are properly supported and able to participate in the inquest process. We believe families should be at the heart of the coronial process.

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Maria Caulfield: What progress his Department has made on tackling mobile phone use in prisons.

Rory Stewart: Our strategy to tackling the security threat posed by mobile phones is threefold:we must prevent them from getting into our prisons in the first place by expanding airport-style security, including metal detectors and X-ray scanners;we must find and stop those phones from working through using portable detection poles and the latest detection and signal-blocking technologies;we must also exploit the data held on those phones. We have delivered new kits at 30 prisons to allow staff to download data from illicit phones quickly.

Divorce

Fiona Bruce: What steps he is taking to consider the views of the public before proposing changes to divorce laws.

Lucy Frazer: Hostility and conflict between parents leave their mark on children and damage their life chances. That is why we intend to remove the need for blame when people divorce. A YouGov poll published the same day as our response to the consultation indicated 73% support for doing so. We held a full public consultation last year to test our detailed proposals. We have reflected on the experience and insight that people brought from all perspectives.

Administration of Justice

Liz McInnes: What assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes in courts staffing and courts closures on access to justice.

Lucy Frazer: Any decision to close a court is not taken lightly, but in circumstances where 41% of our courts operated in 2016-17 at half their available capacity and where we are investing £1 billion in courts and bringing them up to date, the Ministry of Justice has to think carefully about where our court resources are most effectively and efficiently spent.

Probation: Private Sector

Stephanie Peacock: What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the private probation system.

Rory Stewart: Transforming Rehabilitation opened up probation to a diverse range of providers and extended support and supervision to an additional 40,000 offenders leaving prison. The NPS is performing well in supervising higher-risk offenders. But I have been clear that the performance of CRCs needs to improve. That is why we are ending contracts early, investing more money in Through the Gate services and continuing to consult partners and experts on how to achieve the right balance between public, private and voluntary delivery of services.

Prison Officers: Recruitment

Kirstene Hair: What progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 new prison officers.

Rory Stewart: We have met our target to recruit an additional 2,500 prison officers ahead of schedule; at the end of December 2018 we had a net increase of 4,767 FTE Band 3 to 5 prison officers since we began at the end of October 2016. It is the highest number of officers in post since 31 March 2012.

Reoffenders

Alison Thewliss: What steps the Government is taking to reduce reoffending rates for violent crimes.

Rory Stewart: Reoffending is costing society approximately £15bn per year. It is only through a concerted effort across Government that we will be able to reduce reoffending. That is why we set up the Reducing Reoffending Board to identify how the Government can work more collaboratively in addressing the drivers of reoffending, and to consider innovative ways of addressing these drivers. We are looking particularly closely at what we can do to strengthen probation, which is responsible for managing and supporting offenders in the community to turn away from crime. I want to see a wider range of rehabilitative programmes on offer, so that offenders can be directed towards programmes that are targeted to their behaviour. For instance, we have found that our general offending behaviour programme can reduce violent reoffending by 17 percentage points.

Department for International Trade

Trade etc in Dual-use Items and Firearms etc (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to Part 3 (3)(d) of the Trade etc. in Dual-Use Items and Firearms etc. (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, how the Government plans to work with the EU in respect of administering brokering licences.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to Part 3 (3)(d) of the Trade etc. in Dual-Use Items and Firearms etc. (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, whether the Government plans to continue formal dialogue with the EU on restricted exports.

Graham Stuart: If we leave the EU without a deal the UK would no longer be able to participate in the EU’s formal information exchange and cooperation mechanisms. In such a scenario the creation of any future UK-EU cooperation and dialogue mechanisms would be subject to negotiation.

Trade in Torture etc Goods (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the Trade in Torture etc. Goods (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, how the government plans to report on (a) the success of those measures and (b) proposals for improvement.

Graham Stuart: These Regulations are made to address inoperabilities and deficiencies of retained EU law arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU and to ensure EU-derived domestic export control legislation operates effectively post-exit. The retained version of the Regulation requires the Secretary of State to prepare and publish an annual activity report, providing information on the number of applications received, on the goods and countries concerned by these applications, and on the decisions taken on these applications.

Trade in Torture etc Goods (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the Trade in Torture etc. Goods (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, what the Government’s proposed penalties are for breaching those regulations.

Graham Stuart: These Regulations are made to address inoperabilities and deficiencies of retained EU law arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU and to ensure EU-derived domestic export control legislation operates effectively post-exit. Maximum penalties for breaches of retained Regulation 2019/125 would continue to be the same as the penalties for breaches of the existing EU regulation, namely 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Church Commissioners

Churches: Community Development

Jim Shannon: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what representations she has received on the use of church facilities for community purposes at times when worship or church events are not taking place.

Dame Caroline Spelman: The Church of England encourages its churches to consider making wider, more imaginative and more strategic use of their buildings, where this will help them to fulfil their purpose of being a Christian presence in every community. There is national guidance on selecting the right legal and funding model to develop church buildings for uses beyond worship, whether that is to tackle issues of social justice, or for a commercial partnership. Individual decisions on what is right for particular churches and communities are made by parishes.National guidance is available here, along with a number of case studies: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/church-resources/churchcare/advice-and-guidance-church-buildings/sharing-your-buildingThe Diocese of Hereford has produced a comprehensive resource on developing church buildings for additional uses, called Crossing the Threshold, available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/church-resources/churchcare/making-changes-your-building-and-churchyard

Ministry of Defence

Saudi Arabia: Military Aid

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2019 to Question 240620 on Saudi Arabia: Military Aid, what roles were undertaken by those personnel in Saudi Arabia.

Mark Lancaster: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 March 2019 to Question 234801.



234801 - Saudi Arabia; Military Aid
(Word Document, 27.7 KB)

Cyprus: Military Bases

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to maintain the reduction in the number of wild birds illegally trapped on the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

Mark Lancaster: The Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) Administration continues to make significant efforts to prevent the trapping and killing of wild birds in the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus, using increased enforcement and denial of trapping opportunities. These were recently recognised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and BirdLife Cyprus, with an estimated 70% reduction in bird trapping in the SBA last year and a significant decrease in bird deaths from 880,000 in 2016 to 121,000 in 2018. The SBA Police continues to seek improved evidence collection using enhanced surveillance equipment, resulting in greater fixed penalty notices or court sentences. The programme of seizing bird trapping equipment continues, as will the extensive patrolling by the SBA Police during the migratory seasons. The SBA Administration will remove piping laid by bird trappers to illegally irrigate invasive acacia trees used to attract birds. To-date, approximately 89 kilometres of irrigation piping within the Cape Pyla range area in the Dhekelia SBA has been removed, which has resulted in significant die-back of acacia trees. Subject to assessments on safety and security, acacia trees will also continue to be removed from the Special Areas of Conservation in the SBA. The SBA Administration is also developing a management plan for Cape Pyla, which will examine the opportunities to improve habitat management for the migratory birds and explore any eco-tourism initiatives that might arise. All opportunities will be taken to enhance the excellent cooperation between the SBA Administration, the RSPB, BirdLife Cyprus and other NGOs involved in preventing illegal bird trapping.

RAF Menwith Hill

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what date a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee last visited NSA/NRO Menwith Hill.

Gavin Williamson: The Intelligence and Security Committee does not comment on the details of its work programme. Where appropriate it publishes information on visits it has undertaken in its Annual Reports.

Islamic State: Military Intervention

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Written Statement of 8 April 2019 Official Report HCWS1498 on changes in the terminology from airstrikes to weapon release events when reporting the UK's contribution to the Counter-Daesh campaign, whether a Reaper launching two or more Hellfire missiles at one target counts as one weapon release event.

Mark Lancaster: Yes. A Weapon Release Event is when one or more weapons of the same type are released from the same aircraft, at the same time, at the same target.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which countries UK military personnel engaged in tackling Houthi missile attacks are operating.

Mark Lancaster: UK military personnel are tackling Houthi missile attacks through engagement with many countries including Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and other members of the United Nations, bilaterally and through the Headquarters in New York. The UK Defence Attache also accompanied my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on his visit to Aden at the beginning of March 2019.The UK remains committed to supporting the legitimate security needs of Saudi Arabia and guarding against the danger of regional escalation. However, the UK is not a member of the Saudi-led coalition and we do not have any role in setting coalition policy.

Saudi Arabia: Military Aid

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2019 to Question 240620 on Saudi Arabia, how many UK military forces are in Saudi Arabia in support of the Saudi Royal Airforce.

Mark Lancaster: As of March 2019, around 20 military personnel (all of whom are from the RAF) provide routine engineering and generic training support to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and are seconded to BAE Systems.UK military personnel do not provide direct support to RSAF operations in Yemen. They do not prepare aircraft for operations, do not load weapons, and do not get involved in the planning of operational sorties.

Sudan: Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 241000 on Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, what the reasons were for ceasing CSSF funding for the Sudan Improving International Standards in the Defence Sector programme for financial year 2019-20.

Mark Lancaster: Funding for the Sudan Improving International Standards in the Defence Sector programme was ceased due to other higher demands on Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) non-Official Development Assistance.

Nigeria: Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 241001 on Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, whether a more detailed risks tool, set out in the recommendations of the CSSF Annual Review of the North East (NE) Nigeria security and conflict and stabilisation programme: 2017 to 2018, will be developed.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence mitigates risks of activity in Nigeria using the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) approved methods - the Overseas Security and Justice Assessment and CSSF programme documentation. All documentation is reviewed on a regular basis and these methods remain extant at this time.

Ascension Island: Aviation

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of  11 January 2019 to Question 59581 on Ascension Island: Aviation, whether best biosecurity industry standards have now been made a condition of the runway resurfacing project on Ascension Island.

Mark Lancaster: Yes.

Gulf States: Military Aid

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Saudi Arabian and (b) UAE nationals have trained at the (i) Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and (ii) Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth since 2015.

Mark Lancaster: The information requested for the period 1 January 2015 to 15 April 2019 is as follows: Royal Military Academy Sandhurst  Number of PersonnelCountryArmy Initial Officer TrainingOther Lower Tier CoursesSaudi Arabia35UAE510 Britannia Royal Naval College   Number of PersonnelCountryRoyal Navy Initial Officer TrainingOther Lower Tier CoursesSaudi Arabia520UAE1437

Department for Work and Pensions

Carbon Monoxide: Alarms

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to encourage festivals with glamping accommodation to ensure that carbon monoxide alarms are fitted to those facilities.

Justin Tomlinson: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) leads on national occupational health and safety policy for the entertainments and leisure sector, whilst Local Authorities are responsible for enforcing the law at individual events, such as festivals, in their geographical area. Festival organisers have responsibilities under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety and health of members of the public affected by their business. These responsibilities extend to ensuring that equipment provided for use by those attending festivals is maintained and operated in a safe condition. Fatalities arising from exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) have occurred due to BBQs being taken into tents for cooking or as a source of heat. Where accommodation is provided, festival organisers are expected to take reasonably practicable measures to prevent these items being used in enclosed areas and raise awareness of the potential dangers. There is no legal requirement to provide CO alarms in temporary festival accommodation. However, where there is a risk of CO being produced, HSE strongly recommends the use of suitable alarms as a useful precaution. HSE has published event safety guidance to help event organisers comply with their legal duties (http://www.hse.gov.uk/event-safety/index.htm) and continues to work closely with industry stakeholders to remind them of the risks from CO and the precautions to be taken. The Events Industry Forum also produces a guide, known as the Purple Guide, for the live event industry.

Local Housing Allowance

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding was reinvested in the targeted affordability fund for local housing allowance rates in 2019-20.

Will Quince: In 2019/2020 we have invested £210m in the Targeted Affordability Fund, this is based on 50% of the [forecast] savings from the freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates.The funding is being used to increase LHA rates in areas where there are the greatest divergences between rates and local rents.

*No heading*

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Impact Assessment for the extension of the Shared Accommodation Rate to 25-34 year-olds, how many claimants were affected; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that extension on the average weekly income since January 2012.

Will Quince: The number of households aged 25-34 who are entitled to the Shared Accommodation Rate is available on Stat-Xplore from January 2013 onwards. An independent evaluation of the 2011/12 Local Housing Allowance reforms including the changes to the Shared Accommodation Rate was published in 2014 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-monitoring-the-impact-of-changes

Children: Day Care

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the financial effect on parents of upfront childcare costs under universal credit.

Will Quince: Universal Credit is more generous in terms of childcare costs with an increased level of support, from 70 per cent with legacy benefits to 85 per cent within Universal Credit. We recognise that the upfront cost of childcare may cause some claimants financial difficulty. Consequently, the Secretary of State announced in her speech of 11 January 2019, that where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, Jobcentres have been instructed to use the Flexible Support Fund where possible, to enable a smoother transition. The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, and doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week.

Personal Independence Payment: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made any adjustments to Disability Living Allowance and the Motability component of Personal Independence Payment to future proof claimants living in (a) Lewisham Deptford and (b) London who will be subject to charges resulting from the Ultra Low Emission Zone.

Justin Tomlinson: The rates for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), including the mobility component for each, are set nationally and are uprated in line with inflation. The most recent increase took effect from 8 April. Matters relating to the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London are the responsibility of the Mayor of London, including discounts and exemptions applying to affected residents and disabled people. Further information can be found here: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April to Question 240478 on Universal Credit, what steps  her Department is taking to monitor the (a) levels of debt and b) finances of claimants of universal credit that have received an advance payment.

Alok Sharma: We continue to evaluate Universal Credit as it is delivered. Research and analysis is conducted to assist and inform the evaluation and expansion of Universal Credit, focusing specifically on the effects of Universal Credit on claimants’ behaviours and outcomes. The Universal Credit Full Service Omnibus Survey was published in February 2019, which can be accessed here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-omnibus-survey The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place to protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40% of the Universal Credit standard allowance. If a claimant is in financial difficulty as a result of the level of deductions being made they can contact the Department to request that a reduction in deductions be considered. At Autumn Budget 2018 we announced we will reduce the maximum rate at which deductions can be made from a Universal Credit award from 40% to 30% of the standard allowance, from October 2019. Additionally, from October 2021, the recovery period for advances will increase from 12 to 16 months. This will help over 600,000 families to manage their debts at any one point when roll-out is complete, providing them with, on average, £295 extra a year as their debts are repaid over a longer period.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people claiming universal credit.

Alok Sharma: Our current statistics show that around 1.8 million people are claiming Universal credit. Statistics on Universal Credit claims can be found under the ‘Claims made to Universal Credit’ dataset available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Universal Credit: Private Rented Housing

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 240482, whether there are plans to increase the number of universal credit claimants accessing the Money and Pension service.

Alok Sharma: For Universal Credit (UC) claimants, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), will continue to deliver the support previously provided by the Money Advice Service. MaPS will help UC claimants with personal budgeting and money management through its free helpline, printed guides and digital guidance. Since February 2017, work coaches in job centres have signposted thousands of UC claimants to Money Manager, an online budgeting tool to help people as they move onto UC, unless a referral to local, face-to-face support is more appropriate. For those UC claimants who are in most need of debt advice, MaPS will continue to work with the DWP and other agencies to ensure that they are signposted and referred quickly to local provision – MaPS funds free-to-consumer debt advice in England through a network of providers including StepChange, the Money Advice Trust and Citizens Advice.

Universal Credit: EEA Nationals and EU Nationals

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many EU and EEA nationals (a) have made a claim for universal credit and (b) have had that claim rejected in each of the last 12 months.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment: Multiple Sclerosis

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in reference to research published by the MS Society in March 2019, whether her Department has plans to undertake a review the effect of the introduction of the 20-metre rule for personal independence payment on costs to other Departments.

Justin Tomlinson: The enhanced rate of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mobility component was always intended to be for those "unable" or "virtually unable" to walk.We believe the current PIP assessment criteria, including the 20 metres distance, are the best way of identifying those whose physical mobility is most limited.Senior Officials are in contact with the MS Society and will be meeting them in the coming weeks to discuss the latest research.

Personal Independence Payment: Disability

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of disabled people who have had to leave work as a result of receiving lower rates of support from personal independence payment in comparison to disability living allowance.

Justin Tomlinson: No such estimate has been made. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be paid to disabled people irrespective of their employment status and, as such, no details of an individual’s employment status are gathered during the course of their claim or award. PIP is a more modern, dynamic and fairer benefit than its predecessor, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and focuses support on those experiencing the greatest barriers to living independently. 31% of people claiming PIP receive the highest level of support, compared to 15% of DLA’s working-age claimants and 39% of reassessment claimants are getting a higher award on PIP compared to when they were on DLA.People with a health condition or disability, who require additional support getting to and from work, can apply for an Access to Work grant.

Pensioners: Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that older people in financial hardship are able to claim the benefits they are entitled to.

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that older people claim the benefits they are entitled to.

Guy Opperman: The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to and the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit. One of the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholder working in the community and we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits. Most recently we have provided to relevant organisations a fact sheet about Pension Credit and forthcoming changes for couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information. The majority of people of pension age in receipt of a State Pension or another social security benefit receive their annual winter fuel payment automatically without the need to make a claim.

Universal Credit

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants are owed compensation for losing their Severe Disability Premium as a result of natural migration, and how many of those claimants are veterans.

Justin Tomlinson: I refer the Hon. Member to the response to Question 215614, answered on 6th February 2019. The Department does not hold information regarding the number of Universal Credit claimants that are veterans. The Department continues to consider opportunities to improve our understanding of those claiming Universal Credit, including ways in which we might identify claims from veterans.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Birds: Conservation

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will review the regulations governing the netting of bird nesting places in England.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: There are no plans to review regulations governing the netting of bird nesting places. The use of netting to exclude birds from potential nesting sites is justified in certain circumstances, for example when protecting crops or restricting pest species’ access to buildings. However, we all have a responsibility to our local environment and we would expect those using netting to do so only when truly necessary and in compliance with the relevant legislation. My colleague, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has written to leading developers to remind them of their obligations in this regard, which includes existing planning practice guidance on the natural environment, and standing advice for local planning authorities to assess the impacts of development on wild birds.

Low Emission Zones: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to offer support to local authorities in London to help sustain council-run transportation for vulnerable and elderly residents following the roll-out of the Ultra Low Emission Zone.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Mayor for London is responsible for the ULEZ and associated mitigation. The Government offers grants towards electric cars and charging points, details of which are on gov.uk.

Air Pollution

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the (a) Government's clean air strategy and (b) roll-out of clean air zones of enabling the provision of (i) car clubs, (ii) daily car rental schemes and (iii) other alternatives to private vehicle ownership.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra did not assess the direct impact of car clubs, daily car rental schemes or other alternatives to private vehicle ownership on the Clean Air Strategy or the roll out of the Clean Air Zones. The Clean Air Strategy was published in January this year and sets our approach for reducing emissions from a range of sources in order to improve air quality and reduce the impacts on human health and the environment. The policies in the Strategy were subject to extensive consultation, and estimates of the reduction in emissions delivered by these policies were published in April in the National Air Pollution Control Programme. The Clean Air Zone Framework is designed to provide a consistent approach to the introduction of Clean Air Zones by local authorities in order to help businesses and individuals and support cities to grow and transition to a low emission economy. This will allow businesses and individuals to make straightforward economic decisions about which vehicles to purchase, and how and when they use them. The framework is also designed to encourage local authorities to explore promoting alternative modes of transport, including buses, cycling and walking, and other sustainable transport alternatives.

Water: Prices

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to  ensure that water services are affordable for older people.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The Government’s November 2017 ‘Strategic policy statement to Ofwat’, the economic regulator for the water industry, challenged the water industry to do more for vulnerable customers in England, including older people. In Ofwat’s Price Review 2019 process in which water companies set out their business plans for 2020-25, Ofwat required companies to set out in their business plans how they would better identify and support those customers who need financial help. Work on the plans is ongoing. Current support includes the Government mandated WaterSure scheme which enables water companies to cap bills for eligible low income customers using a lot of water for essential family or health reasons. All water companies also offer schemes, known as social tariffs, for eligible customers on low incomes or receiving specific benefits. Approximately 400,000 household customers currently benefit from such water bill support schemes. Legislative powers recently put in place in the Digital Economy Act 2017 allow data sharing between water companies and other organisations, including Government departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions. This will help companies identify and consequently provide support to more customers who may need help with their bills.

Utilities: Prices

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the prices of (a) energy bills, and (b) water bills are affordable for those of state pension age.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: a) Energy policy is the responsibility of the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. b) The Government’s November 2017 ‘Strategic policy statement to Ofwat’, the economic regulator for the water industry, challenged the water industry to do more for vulnerable customers in England, including older people. In Ofwat’s Price Review 2019 process in which water companies set out their business plans for 2020-25, Ofwat required companies to set out in their business plans how they would better identify and support those customers who need financial help. Work on the plans is ongoing. Current support includes the Government mandated WaterSure scheme which enables water companies to cap bills for eligible low income customers using a lot of water for essential family or health reasons. All water companies also offer schemes, known as social tariffs, for eligible customers on low incomes or receiving specific benefits. Approximately 400,000 household customers currently benefit from such water bill support schemes. Legislative powers recently put in place in the Digital Economy Act 2017 allow data sharing between water companies and other organisations, including Government departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions. This will help companies identify and consequently provide support to more customers who may need help with their bills.

Home Office

Immigration: EU Nationals

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of non-UK EU citizens in the UK eligible to apply for settled status; and how many applications for settled status have been submitted in each age group.

Caroline Nokes: An estimated 3.4m EEA nationals currently resident in the UK are eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme (based on Home Office internal analysis of ONS Annual Population Survey (APS) data for year October 2017 to September 2018).The Impact Assessment for the EU Settlement Scheme was published in July 2018 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2018/116/pdfs/ukia_20180116_en.pdf ) and an updated version was published in March 2019 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2019/74/pdfs/ukia_20190074_en.pdf).The Home Office has estimated that the total number of EEA citizens and their family members eligible to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme by the end of the planned implementation period on 31 December 2020 is likely to be between 3.5 million and 4.1 million. This estimate is based on a number of assumptions as to how the size of the eligible EEA population will change over the period. The range should be considered indicative as future migration flows can be affected by many factors and are difficult to predict.Two reports on the private testing phases have already been published (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-1 and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-2/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-testing-phase-2-report)Interim statistics on the public beta phases were also referenced in the Written Statement HCWS1387WS1387 of 7 March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-03-07/HCWS1387/ )We will publish further data on the operation of the EU Settlement Scheme in due course.

Human Trafficking: Sexual Offences

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2018 to Question 137048 on Human Trafficking: Sexual Offences, how many potential victims of trafficking or modern slavery were identified through Project AIDANT activity in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019 to date; how many of those potential victims were detained prior to identification; and how many of those potential victims were referred to the National Referral Mechanism.

Victoria Atkins: Information on Project AIDANT (the series of multi-agency operational intensifications to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking led by the National Crime Agency) can be found in the 2018 Annual Report on Modern Slavery which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/749346/2018_UK_Annual_Report_on_Modern_Slavery.pdfIt should be noted that the number of potential victims includes victims encountered overseas during the operations who do not qualify for referral to the UK National Referral Mechanism or Duty to Notify. The data held is reported individually by police forces and law enforcement agencies and may therefore not reflect the full picture of NRM referrals as it is not possible to determine from the NRM database directly which referrals relate to AIDANT activity.Data on the number of potential victims detained prior to identification is not held centrally.

Animal Experiments: Primates

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) marmosets and (b) tamarins were used in scientific procedures at (a) Porton Down and (b) other premises licenced by the Government in 2017.

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many marmosets are currently housed at DSTL, Porton Down for use in scientific experiments.

Mr Ben Wallace: The annual publication of annual statistics on the use of animals in scientific research in Great Britain is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/724611/annual-statistics-scientific-procedures-living-animals-2017.pdf.Data are available on the number of procedures by species of the animal and for what purpose, and also the number of animals used for the first time in procedures and by purpose. The data show that in 2017 there were 166 procedures on marmosets and tamarins, and 110 marmosets and tamarins used for the first time in procedures.Data are not collected on the numbers of animals housed at individual establishments.

Religious Buildings: Islam

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allocating funding to mosques for security on a risk-assessed basis.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the level of threat to places of worship by far-right politically motivated violence in the UK; and what plans he has to support those places of worship.

Victoria Atkins: The threat to places of worship from far-right violence is considered independently of government by the police and Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre (JTAC) and the police consider appropriate action to be taken in light of these assessments.The Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme is a key Home Office commitment in the Hate Crime Action Plan to respond to concerns about faith-based hate crime. The scheme is open to Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faiths and provides funding for physical security measures at places which are vulnerable to hate crime.Decisions on funding are based on eligibility criteria set out in the Home Office guidance to applicants and the recommendations of the multi-faith independent advisory panel (with security expertise), this process therefore includes an assessment of vulnerability to hate crime. Last month, we announced an uplift of funding for the 2019/20 Places of Worship scheme to £1.6 million. This is double the amount awarded in 2018/19.

Religious Buildings: Security

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations he has received from community faith groups on the security of places of worship.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2019 to Question 236388 on Religious Buildings: Security, what plans are in place to enable his Department to consult communities on the security of places of worship.

Victoria Atkins: The Places of Worship Protective Security Fund (POW) is a key commit-ment in the Hate Crime Action Plan published in 2016. The scheme has been running for three years, and we ensure we continuously listen to feedback from faith communities on the scheme, including the independent panel to the scheme made up of representatives across faith groups. This feedback has resulted in improvements being made for each year of the scheme.In March the Home Secretary announced an increase in the amount of funding for the POW scheme to £1.6m, for 2019-20. We are working urgently to make commercial improvements to the scheme to make it easier for places of worship to apply, reducing the administrative burden and widening the eligibility criteria.More widely, following the events in Christchurch, the Home Secretary committed to consulting with faith communities to understand what more could and should be done to help protect faith communities at their places of worship. We will be working with groups such as the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, Tell Mama and those representing other faiths as part of this consultation. This engagement with communities is starting immediately with opportunities for wider consultation, including from people feeding in on individual basis, following thereafter. We will be outlining how to engage on Gov.UK shortly

Home Office: Brexit

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has deprioritised any Statutory Instruments in relation to the UK leaving the EU; and if he will publish the criteria his Department uses to deprioritise those Instruments.

Caroline Nokes: The Government’s objective has always been to have a functioning statute book in place by Exit Day and to ensure that the most critical secondary legislation was made by this point.Each SI was considered carefully, on a case-by-case basis; the Government’s objective was met. Public impact was the prime consideration, and so if an instrument was needed only to make minor technical changes that were deemed inessential for exit day, then those fell later in the plan than others.These considerations and assessments made have meant that the Government has been able to lay the critical secondary legislation required before we exit the EU. The laying of EU Exit SIs allows Parliament to fulfil its essential scrutiny role. The exact nature of this scrutiny, and the steps required before an SI completes its passage, is dependant on the type of SI. The Government remains confident of passing the necessary legislation required to ensure a functioning statute book by exit day.

Immigration

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals with leave to remain revoked in the UK have waited more than two years for a review of their immigration status.

Caroline Nokes: Individuals whose leave to remain is revoked are expected to make arrangements to depart the United Kingdom.  The Home Office’s preferred option for people who have no legal basis to remain in the UK is for them to leave voluntarily and we offer assistance to those who choose to do soIf, following revocation, a person believes they may be eligible for leave on some other basis, they should submit a further application to the Home Office for consideration.

Visas: Applications

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average number of decisions made on visa applications was on each day in the decision-making hubs in (a) Pretoria,  (b) Abuja, (c) Lagos, (d) Accra, (e) Croydon and (f) Sheffield.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of visa applications processed in (a) Croydon, and (b) Sheffield were from people from African countries.

Caroline Nokes: The available published information relates to all entry clearance visa applications received per quarter, by nationality of the applicant, which is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Home Office’s publication scheme, in the Home Office’s ‘Immigration Statistics’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_02_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018/list-of-tables#visas.

Vetting

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that employees do not suffer financial hardship as a result of untimely CRB processes.

Victoria Atkins: The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) was established in 2012 and carries out the functions previously undertaken by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).The DBS’s complaints policy can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/494019/Complaint_Policy_v2_7_Web_version.pdf

Department of Health and Social Care

Opiates: Death

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the numbers of deaths from misuse of heroin and morphine in (a) coastal communities and (b) Portsmouth.

Seema Kennedy: Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning drug prevention, treatment and harm reduction services to meet these needs. This includes helping to prevent drug-related deaths from the misuse of heroin and morphine in coastal communities. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities to do this by providing advice, guidance and tools.Locally, PHE is supporting the South East substance misuse network, which includes Portsmouth, to review a range of opportunities to prevent drug misuse deaths including engaging more people at risk in treatment, improving the physical and mental wellbeing of people in treatment, improving access to naloxone, developing local arrangements for reviewing deaths and near misses, and developing drug alert and early warning systems.Nationally, the Department and PHE have made it easier for drug services to supply naloxone, published updated clinical guidelines for drug treatment and worked with a network of treatment providers to establish good practice guidance on managing drug-related death risk factors and to improve partnership between treatment providers and other healthcare services. Updated clinical guidelines can be viewed at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drug-misuse-and-dependence-uk-guidelines-on-clinical-management

NHS 111

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of calls to the (a) NHS 111 and (b) NHS 111 BSL service resulted in the dispatch of an ambulance in the last year for which figures are available.

Stephen Hammond: NHS England publishes monthly performance data for the NHS 111 service at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-111-minimum-data-set/statistical-work-areas-nhs-111-minimum-data-set-nhs-111-minimum-data-set-2018-19/The following table provides the latest data available for ambulance dispositions from NHS 111 and NHS 111 British Sign Language (BSL). Total calls to NHS 111Calls to the NHS 111 BSL Service (including in total calls)1Number of calls triaged2Ambulance dispatches3Ambulance dispatches (% of calls triaged)2018-19 to date16,782,18147613,135,7111,742,05613.3% Source: NHS EnglandNotes:1 NHS 111 BSL call data is currently only available up to February 2019.2 A triaged call is one where the clinical assessment tool has been opened and used.3 Final NHS Pathways disposition was a referral to the Ambulance Service: Further clinical assessment within the Integrated Urgent Care (NHS 111) or 999 service areas may have indicated that an ambulance response and/or conveyance was not required. The actual percentage resulting in an ambulance being dispatched may therefore be lower.

Agency Social Workers

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department had made of the trends in the level of agency social workers in English councils.

Caroline Dinenage: The adult social care workforce is vital and local authorities, like any employer, need to ensure they have the right numbers of staff with the right skills.Between 2012/13 and 2017/18, the number of agency social workers increased from 2% to 6.8% (330 – 1,100 jobs)Across Government, we are continuing our ambitious programme to deliver improvements to the status and standing of the social work profession and increase numbers, including providing funding for the social work bursary and providing support to social workers who have left the profession and want to return through a Return to Practice programme.In the last year for which we have data, the level of agency social workers has fallen by 0.6% (90 jobs). This decrease corresponds with a rise in the number of social workers employed by local authorities, by 800 jobs since September 2017.

Social Workers: Recruitment

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to support local councils in the recruitment of permanent social workers.

Caroline Dinenage: The adult social work workforce is vital and local authorities, like any employer, need to ensure they have the right staff with the right skills. The Government has provided councils with access to up to £3.6 billion more dedicated funding for adult social care in 2018/19 and up to £3.9 billion for this year.We have also invested £3 million in a national adult social care recruitment campaign during 2018/19 to raise the profile of the adult social care sector and attract more people to a range of jobs in adult social care.Across Government, we are continuing our ambitious programme to improve the status and standing of the social work profession, including:- Ensuring we have sufficient supply of social workers, through provision of the £58 million Social Work Bursary and £20 million Education Support Grant to support student placements;- Introducing diverse entry routes for people wanting to qualify as social workers, including fast-track graduate programmes such as Think Ahead and Frontline and a new Degree Apprenticeship from 2018/19;- Supporting the Assessed Supported Year in Employment for newly qualified social workers, providing them with valuable additional support during their first year in practice. The programme has benefitted over 20,000 child and family and adult social workers since 2012, helping to improve recruitment, retention and performance management;- Funding assessment and development programmes for established social workers to enable them to progress into more specialist or senior roles;- Supporting a Return to Practice programme for social workers who have left the profession and want to return; and- Establishing Social Work England as the new specialist regulator for social workers, ensuring clear standards for the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours required to become and remain a registered social worker.Thanks to these actions we have begun to see an impact - local authorities have been able to recruit an additional 3,000 jobs since last year, including 1,000 more professionals such as social workers and occupational therapists.

Radioisotopes

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has with NHS England on ensuring adequate supplies of Choline for cancer (a) scans and (b) diagnoses.

Seema Kennedy: The Department has been in regular contact with NHS England regarding the availability of Choline used for PET scanning. Choline supplies are currently available and NHS England has taken a number of steps to stabilise the availability of Choline going forward to ensure adequate supply remains available for PET scanning.

Cataracts: Surgery

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guideline his Department has issued to Hospitals and Care Commissioning Groups on operations for cataracts.

Seema Kennedy: We are committed to the prevention and detection of eye disease, which are both key to preserving sight along with access to timely treatment. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines published in 2017 make clear the expectations on cataract surgery. The guidelines can be found at the following link: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng77 While commissioning decisions must remain a matter for individual clinical commissioning groups all National Health Service bodies are required to carefully consider NICE guidelines in making such decisions.

Surgery: Standards

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recommendation of the Royal College of Surgeons in its report entitled, Recommendations for assuring standards in the independent sector, whether his Department has plans to require all new surgical procedures used in (a) the NHS and (b) private health providers to be registered before being offered to patients.

Stephen Hammond: There are currently no plans to require all new surgical procedures used in either National Health Service or private health circles to be registered before being offered to patients.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence provides technology appraisals that indicate which devices are suitable for routine use and which require more supervised evaluation. This applies to NHS care commissioned from NHS or independent sector providers.

Asthma: Kent

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) adults and (b) children have been admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of asthma in (i) the Canterbury district and (ii) each of the Kent parliamentary constituencies in each year since 2010.

Seema Kennedy: NHS Digital has provided the following data that detail the count of hospital finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of asthma, broken down by children under 18 and adults over 18 for Canterbury Local Authority District, and each Westminster parliamentary constituency in Kent for the financial years 2010-11 to 2017-18:Canterbury Local Authority District:YearChildrenAdults2010-11351452011-12451202012-13301502013-14351702014-15451652015-16551902016-17551352017-185575Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS DigitalData for FAEs in Westminster parliamentary constituencies in Kent is attached.A FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.



PQ244189_data
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Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Council Tax: Care Leavers

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his department holds on the extent to which immediate care leavers are liable to pay the full rate of council tax for the property they are living in.

Rishi Sunak: Many local authorities use their discretionary powers under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to offer council tax discounts to care leavers. Information on such discounts is not collected centrally.

Multiple Occupation: Hampshire and Plymouth

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many registered Houses of Mulitple Occupancy there are in (a) Portsmouth, (b) Southampton and (c) Plymouth.

Rishi Sunak: We estimate from local authority data returns for the period 2017-18, that there were 584 properties registered as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) with mandatory licences in Portsmouth; in Southampton we estimate 592; and in Plymouth we estimate there were 695. Since these figures were published the Government has extended mandatory licensing of HMOs to properties of any size, given 5 or more people from 2 or more households. Data on properties licensed since the extension will not be available until local authority data returns for 2018-19 are published in 2020.

Multiple Occupation

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that Houses of Mulitple Occupancy are managed effectively in (a) the UK and (b) Portsmouth.

Rishi Sunak: HMO licences are issued by the local authority and are valid for up to 5 years. It is the local authority’s responsibility to ensure a licence is granted to a fit and proper landlord. Those landlords that fail to comply with regulations are subject to enforcement action from the local authority. Enforcement guidance has recently been refreshed and published.

Families: Disadvantaged

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2019 to Question 234235 on Families: Disadvantaged, how many children supported by the troubled families programme have subsequently been taken into care.

Rishi Sunak: The Troubled Families Programme is designed to help families with complex needs achieve better outcomes, such as avoiding children being taken into care, by addressing all the underlying problems faced by family members. A single keyworker works with the whole family to agree goals against their problems which can include poor health, drug and alcohol use, domestic abuse, crime, anti-social behaviour, poor school attendance and financial exclusion. When compared to a matched comparison group, the programme was found to have reduced the proportion of children on the programme going into care by a third However, the safeguarding of children is always the primary concern and there will sometimes be occasions when, despite the support offered to a family, a child has to be taken into care in order to keep them safe. The national evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme shows that approximately 1.7 per cent of children who have been supported by the Troubled Families Programme were in care 19-24 months after they started the programme. Approximately 500,000 children have received support through the Troubled Families Programme, therefore around 8,500 were in care between 19-24 months after the programme began (These figures are estimates and should be treated as indicative only).

Rented Housing: Older People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help local authorities improve security of tenure for older renters.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We know that security of tenure is a concern for many in the private rented sector. That is why we have announced that the government will end so-called ‘no fault’ evictions by abolishing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. The government will shortly launch a new consultation on proposals to remove the ability of landlords to use ‘no fault’ evictions under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.The government’s proposed measures will provide greater certainty for tenants and make the housing market fit for the 21st century. This will provide support to all tenants, including older renters, giving them the security and stability they need to make a place truly feel like home without the fear of being evicted at a moments’ notice.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 12.7 of his Department's guidance entitled Fire safety: Approved Document B2, published  in 2006, 2010 and 2013, and Approved Document B2, Amendments paragraph 12.6, published in 2018, which cladding materials and products other than Aluminium Composite Material are included in the term filler material.

Rishi Sunak: The guidance in paragraph 12.7 (now paragraph 12.6) of Volume 2 of Approved Document B needs to be read in the context of paragraph 12.5 of the Approved Document and the overall requirement for external walls to adequately resist the spread of fire, and those provisions should be considered for the whole external wall system, irrespective of the type of cladding materials used.

Families: Disadvantaged

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2019 to Question 234235 on Families: Disadvantaged, what the average length of time is for a family to receive support from the troubled families programme; and how many families have fallen out of the troubled families programme.

Rishi Sunak: Looking at families where programme start and end data is available, we find that on average, families spend approximately 8 months (259 days) on the programme. However, it is worth noting that, because the Troubled Families Programme is designed to provide support which is tailored to each families’ individual needs, the length of time and type of support provided will vary considerably from family to family.Some families do leave the programme prematurely; they might disengage or move to another local authority for example. Comprehensive data is not held centrally, but these numbers are tracked locally.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Disclosure of Information

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has entered into with departmental staff in each of the last five years.

Mr David Lidington: We have collected data on non-disclosure agreements as part of the central Cabinet Office requirement to do this since January 2015. We have had no non-disclosure agreements during that period.

Vote Leave: Election Offences

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it Government policy to revoke Article 50 as a result of (a) the recent report of the Electoral Commission into the activities of Vote Leave, and (b) Vote Leave's decision to drop its appeal against alleged fraud committed during the EU referendum in 2016.

Chloe Smith: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 15 April 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The consultation Protecting the Debate: Intimidation, Influence and Information was launched lastyear. We are currently reviewing the responses and we will issue a response in due course.The Electoral Commission is the independent regulatory body responsible for ensuring that elections and referendums are run effectively and in accordance with the law. Where it has reason to believe that electoral law has been breached it has the power to investigate, impose sanctions, or refer to the police. The Government has no involvement with Electoral Commission investigations. The Electoral Commission has produced recommendations on campaign finance which the Government is considering. These are not specific to individual cases but are about the wider system. The Article 50 notification will not be withdrawn. The Government is committed to finding a way to fulfil the democratic decision of the referendum, deliver Brexit and move our country forward.

Chloe Smith: The consultation Protecting the Debate: Intimidation, Influence and Information was launched lastyear. We are currently reviewing the responses and we will issue a response in due course.The Electoral Commission is the independent regulatory body responsible for ensuring that elections and referendums are run effectively and in accordance with the law. Where it has reason to believe that electoral law has been breached it has the power to investigate, impose sanctions, or refer to the police. The Government has no involvement with Electoral Commission investigations. The Electoral Commission has produced recommendations on campaign finance which the Government is considering. These are not specific to individual cases but are about the wider system. The Article 50 notification will not be withdrawn. The Government is committed to finding a way to fulfil the democratic decision of the referendum, deliver Brexit and move our country forward.

One Public Estate Programme

Julian Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking through the One Public Estate initiative to (a) identify and (b) release surplus public sector land in support of local regeneration projects.

Oliver Dowden: One Public Estate is a national programme that supports central and local government andwider public sector partners to collaborate on property-led projects. It aims to generateefficiencies, create economic growth (including homes and jobs) and deliver better, moreintegrated customer services. This includes supporting the identification and developmentof surplus and under-utilised public sector land and property. On joining the programme, One Public Estate asks partners to assess and share data on their property holdings, and facilitates workshops to review opportunities for freeing up land and property for regeneration, redevelopment or disposal. It acts as a neutral broker,working in between partners to create a common goal in support of strategic housingoutputs, an increase in local employment, savings for the taxpayer, and serviceimprovements for citizens.The programme offers practical support to unblock barriers, share good practice, analysedata and develop economic benefit cases that deliver value. It also provides capacityfunding for project management and specialist support, including partnership formationand governance, masterplanning, feasibility studies, option appraisal, and surveyingOne Public Estate currently works with 78 partnerships across England delivering over 600projects. Of these, 150 projects are focused on regeneration, with others aiming to releasesurplus land for housing or mixed use development, and deliver integrated services forlocal communities.By March 2020, partnerships on the programme expect to deliver:o £615 million in capital receiptso £158 million savings in running costso 44,000 new jobso Release land for 25,000 new homes

Government Departments: Procurement

Julian Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of the new Outsourcing Playbook on the quality Government outsourcing decisions; and will he make a statement.

Oliver Dowden: We launched the Outsourcing Playbook in February 2019 and introduced a package ofreforms to our approach to outsourcing designed to improve public service outcomes, valuefor money and how we work in partnership with our suppliersMeasures include:Guidance for departments to help assess whether services should be delivered, in-house bythe public sector or outsourced. This should support more informed decisions on when it isbest to deliver public services ourselves and when there is benefit to drawing on the capacityand expertise of the private sector;Introduction of a new presumption in favour of running a pilot where government isoutsourcing a service so we learn lessons before contracting for the long term; andA new requirement for government to produce an assessment of how much a service‘should cost’ to deliver when deciding whether to utilise the private sector. This helps toprovide a better understanding of the costs associated with the different service deliverymodels so that we are in a better position to challenge unsustainable bidsWe have put in place an implementation programme to ensure that our departments areaware of these new requirements. Compliance with these reforms will be ensured throughthe usual Cabinet Office controls process.

Public Sector: Technology

Julian Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps he has taken to encourage the use of innovative technologies to deliver public services; and will he make a statement.

Oliver Dowden: In November 2017, we launched a £20 million, three year GovTech Catalyst to fund private sector innovators to solve public-sector challenges. To date, the programme has identified and appointed 15 challenge winners. It is now seeking to test these concepts and provide a route to market for the viable solutions. We will shortly launch the Innovation Strategy, outlining a vision for how departments can build on those foundations to make the most of the opportunities, while understanding the risks and challenges, offered by the application of emerging technologies in public services.

Electoral Register: Blaenau Gwent

Nick Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of uncompleted applications to the electoral register in Blaenau Gwent in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c)2018.

Chloe Smith: Since its introduction, over 38 million applications have been facilitated nationally through the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service, of which over 75% (29 million) of applications were made online via the Register to Vote website. Applications are processed locally by the Electoral Registration Officers who are responsible for completing the registration process and adding an individual to the electoral register. We therefore don’t have access to any statistics on the number of applications that do not complete this process. However, these may be held at the local level.

Electoral Register

Nick Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of uncompleted applications to join the electoral register in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Chloe Smith: Since its introduction, over 38 million applications have been facilitated nationally through the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service, of which over 75% (29 million) of applications were made online via the Register to Vote website. Applications are processed locally by the Electoral Registration Officers who are responsible for completing the registration process and adding an individual to the electoral register. We therefore don’t have access to any statistics on the number of applications that do not complete this process. However, these may be held at the local level.

Electoral Register

Nick Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the demographic profile of individuals who began but did not complete the voter registration process in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and(c) 2018.

Chloe Smith: Since its introduction, over 38 million applications have been facilitated nationally through the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service, of which over 75% (29 million) of applications were made online via the Register to Vote website. Applications are processed locally by the Electoral Registration Officers who are responsible for completing the registration process and adding an individual to the electoral register. We therefore don’t have access to any statistics on the number of applications that do not complete this process. However, these may be held at the local level.

Treasury

Historic Buildings: VAT Exemptions

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of VAT relief for renovations to and rehabilitation of historic buildings including pre-1919 tenement properties in Glasgow.

Mel Stride: The Government makes available a reduced rate of VAT at five per cent applicable for renovations of properties after a prolonged period without use and listed buildings that have been substantially reconstructed. There are currently no plans to allow the VAT relief to all renovations of historic buildings.

Multinational Companies: Taxation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which jurisdictions will be within the scope of the offshore receipts in relation to the intangible property measure in the Finance Act 2019.

Mel Stride: The Offshore receipts in respect of intangible property measure targets multinational groups that realise intangible property income from UK sales in low or no-tax jurisdictions. The government has been clear that this measure will be applied in compliance with the UK’s international obligations. This means that the measure will only apply to low-tax jurisdictions with which the UK does not have a full tax treaty.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what forecast the Office of Budget responsibility has made for spending on tax-free childcare in each year since its introduction and until 2025.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of families estimated to be eligible for tax-free childcare have received such childcare in each year since its introduction.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of families who will access tax-free childcare in each year up to 2025.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families have a tax-free childcare account; and what proportion of those families have received financial assistance through the tax-free childcare scheme.

Elizabeth Truss: The forecasts for spending on Tax-Free Childcare can be found in table 4.17 of the OBR’s Economic & Fiscal Outlook (https://cdn.obr.uk/March-2019_EFO_Web-Accessible.pdf) and are contained in table 1 below, along with forecasts of the number of families and the proportion of eligible families using Tax-Free Childcare. Table 1 OutturnForecast2017/182018/192019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24TFC Spending£32m£0.1bn£0.3bn£0.4bn£0.6bn£0.8bn£1.0bnNumber of Families Using TFC (at year end)47,0000.1m0.3m0.4m0.5m0.6m0.8mProportion of Eligible Families Using TFC3%8%16%24%32%41%49%  Details on Tax-Free Childcare usage up to December 2018 can be found in the official statistics publication (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-december-2018). The statistics show that 90,800 families used Tax-Free Childcare in December 2018. This represents around 5.8 per cent of eligible families. The statistics also show that 256,900 families had an open Tax-Free Childcare account in December 2018, and that 35 per cent of these had been used during the month.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost of administering the tax-free childcare scheme.

Elizabeth Truss: HMRC administer Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare through the childcare service. The average annual operating cost for the childcare service over the five years to 2021/22 is estimated as £34.1m. Details on Tax-Free Childcare usage up to December 2018 can be found in the official statistics publication (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-december-2018).Details on 30 hours free childcare usage is published by the Department for Education (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated)

Revenue and Customs: Glasgow

Patrick Grady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, much the HMRC spent on hiring private venues in Glasgow for meetings with individual taxpayers in the financial year 2018-19.

Mel Stride: The information requested is not readily available, as such the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Caravans: VAT

Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the revenue that has accrued to the public purse from the 5 per cent rate of VAT on static caravans in each financial year since 2013-14.

Mel Stride: HMRC does not hold information on which to base an estimate of the revenue accrued from the 5 per cent rate of VAT on static caravans, as businesses are not required to provide this information on their VAT returns.

Apprentices: Taxation

Nic Dakin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the amount employers pay into the apprenticeship levy will increase in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced on a UK wide basis from 6 April 2017. Employers are charged at 0.5% of their pay bill over £3 million. The latest receipts forecast for the Apprenticeship levy is published by Office for Budget Responsibility which can be found online at: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2019 In 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22, it is forecasted that employers will pay £2.8bn, £2.9bn, and £3.1bn respectively into the Apprenticeship Levy.

Public Sector: Redundancy Pay

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Six-figure taxpayer-funded public sector exit payments to end published on 10 April 2019, (a) how many exit payments were made by each public sector employer and (b) what the value of those exit payments was by employer in the latest period for which for which data figures are available.

Elizabeth Truss: Data on the number of exit payments made by public sector employers is available publicly in their annual accounts and reports. The table attached consolidates this information and contains the number of exit payments made by public sector employers and the total amount of these exit payments.



Table for PQ response
(Word Document, 40.26 KB)

Investment: Regulation

Mr Adrian Bailey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the mini-bond market is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

John Glen: It is not a regulated activity for firms to issue their own securities, including mini-bonds, due to an exemption within the Regulated Activities Order 2001. This exemption exists to ensure that companies in the real economy can raise finance to fund their business without having to become authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, to protect consumers, the marketing and promotion of such securities, including mini-bonds, are subject to the financial promotion restrictions set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act. This requires that the content of any financial promotion be approved by an FCA authorised firm unless an exemption applies. It is the responsibility of the FCA authorised firm to ensure the financial promotion is clear, fair and not misleading. Authorised firms that fail to meet these requirements may be subject to enforcement action by the FCA. HM Treasury keeps the regulatory framework for financial services under review, and updates it as necessary. We are committed to maintaining a strong and safe financial system, with high standards of consumer protection. On 1 April, I announced that I will direct the FCA to launch an investigation into the events at London Capital & Finance, a firm which issued mini-bonds in order to fund loans that it made to other parties. This followed a request from the FCA Chair, Charles Randell, to launch such an investigation.

Capital Gains Tax

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the incendence of carried interest taxed as capital gains tax has been anually since 2005.

Mel Stride: There are a number of factors that determine incidence of capital gains tax (CGT) on carried interest, including the price elasticity of demand. CGT is levied on sums of carried interest arising to asset managers from a fund with long term investments.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Statement of 13 March 2019, Official Report, volume 656, column 372, what recent discussions he has held with the Secretary of State for Transport on future investment in the East Coast Main Line.

Elizabeth Truss: The Chancellor holds regular bilateral meetings with the Secretary of State for Transport where they discuss a range of issues. With regards to facilitating greater transport connections for regions north of York, a £780m fund was made available in July 2018 for major upgrades. A significant proportion of this will fund power supply upgrades between Doncaster and Edinburgh. When combined with the new Intercity Express Trains, this will provide passengers with more seats as well as faster, more frequent journeys on the line.

VAT: Billing

Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses that have been subjected to a VAT time penalty for late VAT payments of two days or less.

Mel Stride: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data relating to the number of days that have elapsed that triggered a time penalty for late payment is not readily available.

VAT: Billing

Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the revenue that has accrued to the public purse from VAT time penalties for late VAT payments of two days or less.

Mel Stride: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data relating to the number of days that have elapsed that triggered a time penalty for late payment is not readily available.

Trusts

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which tax avoidance schemes involving trusts have been (a) notified to HMRC and (b) classified as harmful in the last five years.

Mel Stride: Tax avoidance deprives the Exchequer of hundreds of millions of pounds a year. Every amount of tax avoided means more tax for other taxpayers to pay, or less funding for our vital public services – our nurses, teachers, doctors, police and many others. Introduced in 2004, the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme (DOTAS) regime requires those who design and/or promote tax avoidance schemes to notify HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) where a scheme contains various ‘hallmarks’ of tax avoidance, or face a penalty. Once notified, HMRC send the promoter a Scheme Reference Number (SRN) who must give it to scheme users for inclusion on their tax returns. This alerts users that they are involved in a disclosed tax avoidance scheme. The fact that a scheme has been notified under DOTAS does not in any way signify that it has been ‘approved’ by HMRC.  Since 2014, over 60 schemes have been disclosed under DOTAS. A list of tax avoidance schemes involving trusts which have been notified to HMRC over the past 5 years cannot be released because of HMRC’s duty of confidentiality.  HMRC challenge appropriate cases and raises awareness of tax avoidance schemes through its series of Spotlight publications which is available on GOV.UK.

Period Poverty

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions has he had with the Secretary of State for Education on extend the provision of free sanitary products to (a) primary schools, (b) homeless shelters and (c) foodbanks.

Elizabeth Truss: The government has listened to concerns from teachers, pupils, students and parents about how the costs of period products can impact on education. No-one should be held back from reaching their potential, which is why at Spring Statement the Chancellor announced a scheme to provide access to free sanitary products in secondary schools and colleges in England, and that this will be fully funded by the government. On 16 April, the Department for Education announced that this funding will be extended to cover primary schools.

UK Asset Resolution

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the FCA on the adequacy of their mechanisms for monitoring the outcomes for mortgage holders whose loans have been sold on by UKAR to inactive lenders.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the merits of the sale of £4.9 billion of former Northern Rock loans to Citibank on the ability of those mortgage loan holders to transfer or get better terms from other regulated lenders, (b) whether properties of Northern Rock mortgage holders' loans held under AKAR and sold between 2012 and 2018 were sold to (i) inactive and (ii) unregulated lenders.

John Glen: As with all UKAR transactions, HM Treasury considered the potential impacts on customers and concluded that this sale does not negatively affect any customer’s ability to remortgage with another loan provider. In addition, UKAR have put in place protections that mean there are no financial barriers, such as early repayment charges, in the way of customers seeking to remortgage with another provider. Customers will be in a better position to change their mortgage following the proposed Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rule change, provided they are up to date with their payments and meet lenders’ risk appetites. The details of UKAR mortgage sales from 2012 to 2018 can be found on gov.uk. Both active and non-active lenders are invited to participate in UKAR sales to ensure a competitive process. In relation to the latest asset sale, UKAR’s advisors proactively invited the top 25 active lenders to participate. Notwithstanding this, UKAR did not receive a bid from an active lender that covered the full portfolio of assets being sold. HMT has worked closely with the FCA on their mortgage market study and their planned changes to affordability assessments. These changes remove the regulatory barriers which previously might have prevented borrowers from accessing new mortgage deals, regardless of whether they are with active or inactive lenders. HMT will continue to work closely with the FCA once the changes to their rules are implemented to monitor the impact this will have on the market. For the latest asset sale, the legal title to the regulated mortgage contracts will always be held by an FCA-regulated entity in addition to the existing regulatory requirement that they are serviced by an FCA-regulated entity. This ensures continued FCA oversight and that customers have access to the Financial Ombudsman Scheme. Moreover, the legal title holder will be required to provide regular loan level reporting to the FCA.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Patrick Grady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the planned timeframe for the publication of a report on the second phase of its investigation into the Royal Bank of Scotland's Global Restructuring Group.

John Glen: On 31 July 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced it would publish a fuller account of its findings following the conclusion of its investigation into the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Restructuring Group. The FCA is an independent non-governmental body. In view of this independence, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on the timeframe for the publication of the FCA’s findings.

Personal Savings: Older People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the elderly to accrue personal savings.

John Glen: The Government is committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save. Older people will continue to benefit from a number of measures this Government has introduced in recent years. The amount of money that people can save into their ISAs each year (the annual subscription allowance) has been increased to a record £20,000. Since April 2016, individuals have also been able to benefit from a new Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers. As a result of these measures, over 95% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income.

Insolvency

Peter Aldous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has consulted with representatives of (a) lenders, (b) business, (c) consumer groups and (d) other relevant stakeholders on his decision at the 2018 Budget to make HMRC a secondary preferential creditor in corporate insolvencies (i) before and (ii) after that decision was made.

Peter Aldous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) HMRC and (b) his Department consulted with the Insolvency Service (a) before and (b) after his decision at the 2018 Budget to make HMRC a secondary preferential creditor in insolvencies.

Mel Stride: In line with the Government’s commitment to open and consultative policy making, the Government regularly engages with a wide variety of stakeholders to ensure policy changes are well informed and based upon the best available evidence. The Government is currently consulting on the detailed policy design for this measure to ensure the changes work as intended. The consultation closes on 27 May and the Government is encouraging financial services businesses, lenders and insolvency practitioners to respond. The Government has already held discussions with UK Finance (the representative body for the banking and finance industry), the Insolvency Service, and R3 (the representative body for insolvency practitioners) as part of this consultation process.

Married People: Tax Allowances

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding his Department has allocated to the marriage allowance; and how many (a) married couples and (b) couples in civil partnerships received that allowance in each year since it was introduced.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of the under-spend in the marriage allowance budget in each year since it was introduced.

Mel Stride: There is no specific funding allocated to this relief, and therefore no under-spend. Anyone who is eligible for the Marriage Allowance (MA) will receive it if they apply. Estimates of the number of couples who have benefitted from MA are being updated following the end of 2018-19 tax year.

Married People: Tax Allowances

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the level of funding allocated to the married couples allowance in each year up to 2025.

Mel Stride: There is no specific funding allocated to this relief, anyone who is eligible for Married Couples Allowance will receive it if they apply. HMRC publishes the estimated cost of the Married Couples Allowance (MCA) for the years up to the current tax year in their “Estimated costs of principal tax reliefs” publication, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs The estimated cost of the MCA is:£m2013-142014-152015-162016-172017-182018-19345330290240195165 Estimated costs beyond 2018-19 have been modelled based on projections using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2018 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These extend as far as the tax year 2023-24, so this is the final year for which figures are provided. £m2019-202020-212021-222022-232023-24130105856555 All estimates are based on the 2015-16 Survey of Personal Incomes projected using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR’s October 2018 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Cybercrime

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many mandatory cyber security training sessions civil servants working in his Department are required to undertake.

Margot James: All DCMS staff are mandated to undertake a ‘Responsible for Information’ online training course relating to information security, which includes content on cyber security. In addition, an element of cyber security awareness is included in staff induction training.

Internet: Safety

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Online Harms White Paper published on 8 April, whether the proposed duty of care applies to (a) internet of things manufacturers, (b) internet of things service providers and (c) electricity companies' smart meters.

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government had plans to include reference to smart, internet-connected devices in the definition of online harms.

Margot James: The Online Harms White Paper consultation proposes that the duty of care applies to companies that provide services or tools that allow, enable or facilitate users to share or discover user-generated content, or interact with each other online. It, therefore, would not typically apply to consumer smart devices. Harms suffered by individuals that result directly from a breach of data protection, breach of cyber-security or hacking are also excluded from scope. However, the Government has taken a number of actions to increase the security of consumer smart devices. In October 2018, DCMS published the Code of Practice for Consumer Internet of Things (IoT) Security to support manufacturers in building strong security into smart products by design. We recognise that further action is needed, and we will soon be publishing a consultation on our regulatory proposals regarding consumer IoT security.

Internet: Safety

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Online Harms White Paper published on 8 April, whether the proposed duty of care applies to those (a) using algorithms in their business and service delivery processes and (b) providing business and consumer services commercially.

Margot James: Following the publication of the Online Harms White Paper on 8 April, we are consulting on proposals for the statutory duty of care to apply to companies and other bodies that allow users to share or discover user-generated content or interact with each other online. The consultation, which can be found here (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/online-harms-white-paper) closes on 1 July.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Brexit

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has deprioritised any Statutory Instruments in relation to the UK leaving the EU; and if he will publish the criteria his Department uses to deprioritise those Instruments.

Margot James: Our objective has always been to have a functioning statute book in place by Exit Day and to ensure that the most critical secondary legislation was made by this point. Each SI was carefully considered on a case-by-case basis to assess the impact of it not being in force on exit day, which informed scheduling decisions. These considerations and assessments have meant that the Government has been able to lay the critical secondary legislation required before we exit the EU. In the case of the Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the department accepted the recommendation of the European Statutory Instruments Committee that the SI should use the affirmative procedure, notwithstanding that this would mean the SI would be unlikely to come into force on exit day (as defined, at that time, as 29 March 2019). This was because it was not essential that the provision made by the SI be in force from exit day, principally because it made very minor technical changes or revoked EU law which would be redundant if retained on the UK's statute book. The laying of EU Exit SIs allows Parliament to fulfil its essential scrutiny role. The exact nature of this scrutiny, and the steps required before an SI completes its passage, is dependent on the type of SI. The Government remains confident of passing the necessary legislation required to ensure a functioning statute book by exit day.

Internet: Safety

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the publication of the Online Harms White Paper, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on assuming the role of the proposed regulator.

Margot James: As outlined in the White Paper, we intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. This regulator will set clear safety standards, backed up by mandatory reporting requirements and effective enforcement powers.

Boats

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he last met with representatives of National Historic Ships UK on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals for older UK passenger boats.

Michael Ellis: Department officials continue to have regular meetings with staff from the National Historic Ships UK (NHS-UK) to discuss such matters. NHS-UK, as an arms-length body, has independence when issuing advice, whether that be to the sector, government departments or government bodies such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Nuisance Calls

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2019 to Question 220177 on Nuisance Calls, how many call blocking devices the Department plans to deliver to vulnerable people in (a) the UK and (b) Kent.

Margot James: In March 2017 DCMS provided a grant of £500,000 to National Trading Standards to provide over 1500 call blocking devices to vulnerable people. The Government is committed to continuing this work. The Chancellor announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget that the National Trading Standards will receive further funding to continue rolling out devices to vulnerable people. The Government has agreed to provide up to £640,000 for this project. The National Trading Standards are currently undertaking a procurement process for a supplier for the call blocking devices. We are not yet therefore able to provide details of precisely how many devices this further funding will deliver.

Tourism

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote the UK as a tourist destination abroad.

Michael Ellis: VisitBritain are responsible for marketing Britain to the international market and do so through a variety of campaigns. This is a statutory duty under the Development of Tourism Act 1969. For example in 2018, they launched their ‘I travel for…’ global marketing campaign using short films and story-telling to highlight less explored parts of the country. VisitEngland administer the£40m Discover England Fund which invests in innovate, bookable products aimed at specific international markets around the world. VisitEngland also use English Tourism Week to promote English tourism product through social media channels, working with Government to create impactful posts to a large audience.

Tourism: North of England

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote (a) the North and (b) Lancashire as tourist destinations.

Michael Ellis: VisitEngland administers the £40m Discover England Fund, supporting the development of innovative and bookable tourism product across England to international markets. For example, the “Discover More Than Just A Holiday” project, led by Marketing Lancashire and “Buzzing For The Weekend”, led by Warrington Council. VisitBritain also has a Gateway Partnership with Manchester Airport, promoting Manchester as a gateway to the North of England, encouraging visitors to choose Manchester, the North of England and Northern Wales as their destination. ExploreGB will be held in Harrogate this May, promoting UK tourism product to over 200 international buyers from over 30 countries. Destinations from the North of England will be attending this event, promoting their products face to face. The proposed Tourism Sector Deal aims to improve productivity in the tourism industry across the country through a range of initiatives. The sector and the Government are currently in formal negotiations over the deal and we hope to be able to provide further information in due course.

Third Sector: Finance

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2019 to Question 241433, whether he plans to estimate the remaining dormant assets with the potential to be made available for the civil society sector.

Mims Davies: Since the Dormant Assets Commission reported on the feasibility of expanding the dormant assets scheme in 2017, industry has been leading the preparations for scheme expansion. In their April 2019 report, industry leaders identified quantifying dormancy as an action for sectors. Participation in the dormant assets scheme is and will remain voluntary. While HMT and DCMS will continue to play a supporting and convening role, the success of the scheme depends on firms’ commitment to channelling dormant assets to good causes.

Canoeing

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to encourage the development of the sport of canoeing.

Mims Davies: The Government’s sport strategy, Sporting Future, encourages and promotes outdoor recreation. Use of our waterways by all can be a creative and fun way to engage with the natural world and to stay healthy. Sport England is actively engaged with British Canoeing and the Canal and River Trust to get more people from all backgrounds active. In addition Sport England is providing £6.85m to British Canoeing for the period between 2017 to 2021. The ‘public rights of navigation’ issue around access to waterways is dealt with by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and they are currently working with British Canoeing to consider solutions to access disputes.